7/23/14

BATMAN #33 — Well, over the course of the past, what, fifteen months, I have gone on and on about how long Snyder/Capullo/Miki/Plascencia strung out this flashback arc. It was admittedly a dicey move stranding the narrative in the past this many months in a row for our hero’s eponymous title, not as like a one-off mini or anything. But you know what, we’ve certainly had no shortage of killer Batman stories told in the present with Tomasi and the gang throwing down all kinds of thunder every month and then that ETERNAL business that’s gotten going here lately and, dear lord, I think Morrison and Burnham were still in play when this arc started, even. Wow. Okay. So, it’s taken a very long time out here in the reader’s world for this story to reach its conclusion. But, man, was it worth it. The team fires on all cylinders with our hero engaging the nascent Riddler in a complex battle of wits while the clock is ticking on some fighter jets swooping in and nuking Gotham like they always like to do the last Wednesday of every other month. Snyder does solid work writing the riddles with great intelligence but also with a cumulative arc. And the resolution to the conflict is well done enough, earned and heroic and sacrifice and all like we want, but the real thunder comes at the end, which, I don’t even want to go into it, to even chance spoiling it for anyone, but let’s just leave it that I was really loving that one page of dialogue that Bruce and Julie were having but then that six-panel montage on the next page absolutely came out of nowhere and punched me in the gut while ripping out my heart. It was rough opening the night with this one because then I had to sit there for a full twenty minutes just getting it together when I was done. And that page has not let go yet, will maybe never stop haunting me. Fierce, fierce material. These boys have created a serious addition to the canon worthy of standing alongside and being known for all time in the company of the all-time greats.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #33 — Belligerent Batman being a dick to the Justice League is a pretty fun way to open up. And it’s too bad to see Frankenstein go, but you’ve certainly got to understand where he’s coming from. Gleason’s Hellbat design is of course slamming, but I’m an even bigger fan of the thought that goes behind the montage of all of the League teaming up to help build it. Probably my favorite character beat in an issue crowded with an ensemble of such heavyweights was the look on Shazam’s face while he said, “I’m ready,” and Cyborg coming back with, “Shut up, Billy.” Plays so so funny within the context of that scene. The depiction of Kalibak is insane and over the top in all the right ways. Definitely worth a splash page. Despite the fact that this issue does not have the densest content (the League tries to stop Batman from going to Apokolips twice, he and Superman have a conversation, we find out that he’s going anyway with three sidekicks and maybe Alfred), both art and script elevate the interactions between all of these characters into very engaging worthwhile exchanges that it takes more than a single pass to appreciate in full.

BATMAN ETERNAL #16 — Nguyen & Fridolfs stay on for another issue. I’m liking this trend of artists hanging out and doing entire short arcs, it lends a sense of coherency to this. The writers are digging deep into their apparent affection for eighties villains as this issue features the first time I’ve seen Maxie Zeus in I don’t know how long and then even throws in old Deacon Blackfire here at the tail end. I suppose it’s too much to hope that Berni Wrightson is drawing #17?

FUTURE’S END #12 — Good deal to open with my favorite crew, Frankenstein & Amethyst & Hawkman in Deeeeeep Space! Five pages of space-action but then I really dig how much weight the writers give Angie when she shows up, just recycles her crew and nukes our heroes and, most ominously of all, good old S.H.A.D.E.NET is offline! It’s pretty challenging to escalate the stakes of the threat of the unknown when the only thing we’ve seen them do is kill the majority of the Ellis/Hitch Authority crew, but this single page right here does a fantastic job of accomplishing exactly that. Blah blah in the middle, I didn’t really care about Mercy or Voodoo or the douchebag checking his phone and messing with Rampage, but then that is all of course mitigated by a terribly ominous thirty-year flash-forward to some old friends hanging out in Arkham. Really a terribly well crafted scene on both shock value, which is easy enough to do when you’re flashing forward, but then they really land the character beats at the end. I mean really land. Even if I didn’t care about half of the issue, the beginning and end are thunderous enough to make me feel good about hanging out with this title. Terrific art from Merino/Green/Hi-Fi. And is that Scott & Barda I see in the coming attractions for next week? For joy!

WONDER WOMAN #33 — Grim developments as this run hurtles headlong toward its thrilling conclusion. Azzarello/Chiang/Wilson continue to fire at the top of their game as they have for almost three years running. I love how they just pull the trigger right at the end and in three pages, Diana and Orion and Aleka all get stabbed or impaled. Brutal! I have to confess that I’m not one-hundred percent cognizant as to what’s happening with the identity of the Amazon on the last page, if that’s like some amalgamate of all three of them, which seems pretty cool, or even just the ladies, or what. I’m not sure that we’re supposed to know at this point. It is certainly a badass splash-page to go out on. Kind of stunning that there are only two more of these left, that’s really snuck up on me, here.

THE UNWRITTEN: APOCALYSE #7 — Carey & Gross continue to display an utter command and mastery of their craft as we are treated to our characters flickering in and out of an Arthurian romance with art style, narration, and character development also in flux, panel by panel. It’s all impressive enough before Pullman breaks the rules and sends in Armida, Orlando, and Orgoglio from Spenser. These gentlemen are accelerating the pace of the narrative as we careen headlong toward the conclusion, which is giving every indication of being one hell of a story, indeed.

RAGNAROK #1 — The return of the Maestro and his companions! This thing has a hell of a pedigree. Walt Simonson, who produced the greatest THOR run in history, returns to the Norse mythos for a non-Marvel blast through the aftermath of Ragnarok, brilliantly abetted by the industry’s best, Laura Martin on colors and veteran collaborator John Workman on letters. IDW has a real coup here scoring these heavyweights producing anything at all, but the fact that it’s Simonson returning to Norse mythology really puts it over the top. And of course, it’s a thing of beauty. Simonson is somehow still peaking, only getting better and better as the years go by. There was a strange disconnect for me in his work a very few years back on Bendis’s AVENGERS, but it looked like that might be down to possibly inking and strange coloring choices, and that’s very much borne out here as Martin’s hues make Simonson’s lines pop like never before. What’s really cool about this is that it’s set in a post-Ragnarok situation years and years after it all goes down, so if you are something of a continuity integrationist, there’s so far really nothing stopping you from sliding this in as an official sequel to Simonson’s glorious THOR run. The opening scene is as thunderous and world-breaking as anything we have seen from this great man’s pen before the narrative get grounded and we meet our protagonist, a Black Elf called Brynja who sets out to assassinate an unnamed target who very well might be the horrifying specter of death who appears adorned in chains in both Brynja’s daughter’s nightmare and the final page, as well as possibly providing the first-person narration that opens the issue on the inside front cover. This title sounded liked a slam-dunk the moment that it was announced and the creators do not disappoint.

BEST OF WEEK: TRANSFORMERS VS. G.I. JOE #1 — All right, admittedly, I am the bull’s eye Target Zero demographic for this book. I was aged seven and then eight when the animated adventures of these two franchises respectively debuted, and in a post-EPISODE VI world, was just as ravenous as everyone else for massive ensembles of new heroes and villains waging war against one another amidst an ongoing serial mythology that seemed to mature and evolve right along with us as the birthdays rolled by and the aircraft carriers and future cities that we asked for as presents grew in size right along with us. And then I got older and learned to revere the craft, untouchable dynamism, and seething energy of the one true King, Jack Kirby. So, as soon as IDW announced that GØDLAND’s own Tom Scioli was writing and drawing this book, I knew at once that I would treasure it, no matter what shape or form it manifested in this reality. And I thought that Scioli did a bang-up job with the zero-issue for Free Comic Book Day. But, holy shit! This is an optimum best-case scenario. If Kirby himself was convinced in 1985 to give Marvel a third chance and take over the sequential adventures of these two franchises, and he somehow once again unleashed the sheer furious thunder of his limitless cosmic imagination and tried to do his Fourth World saga one better, then it would be this good. Everything about this is total glory. I could write a couple hundred words breaking down what I love about each and every single page. Let’s just do a few bullet-points:

-that cover (above) that references both the original TRANSFORMERS #1 from the old Marvel series as well as the first page of the Hama G.I. JOE #1 while also giving us Snake Eyes turning his back on the whole damn mess of them, Silver Age-style (as noted in back-matter)

-the sheer clusterfuck insanity of just dropping us in on a no-context Springfield invasion on Page Two and making it both that crowded and instantly readable (right)

-Gung Ho calling Tomax & Xamot Siegfriend and Roy

-The “Face of Darkness” shout-out on Page Four

-The Biblical allusion in the title on Page Six introducing plane versions of both Sound- and Shockwave; also, Flagg calling the Autobot & Decepticon signs the masks of comedy and tragedy, which, I straight up involuntarily slapped my own forehead right away for never seeing it

-Ravage as principal negotiator

-Giiiiiiiant Soundwave reaching down to stop the Joes from fleeing in their jeep

-Page Thirteen, that insane foreshortened lineup of Decepticons with Ravage standing in for Cerberus as pointed out in the back-matter

-The Kirby Krackle around Gen. Colton at the center of Page Fifteen. And how he’s totally Highfather

-Page Sixteen. Any time Soundwave is in this book, he should totally have three splash pages or near-splashes. Minimum. That just seems like the call, and good on Scioli for starting us off right here; Also, “I offered you peace and you ran over me with your car,” is the sensational character line of 2014.

-The Revenge of Snake-Eyes

-COLTON BOLT!

-Yeah, and then just everything about the last four pages

If anything, I’m worried that Scioli has just maybe set the bar too high with this issue. But given that this appears to be actually set-up, and we really hit it hard next issue with the brilliantly inverted dynamic of Joes on Cyberton, well, I mean, in theory, I can intellectually grasp that there’s some hypothetical way that this could get better or that I could have more fun reading it, but I can’t actually imagine it. Beyond glorious!

SAVAGE DRAGON #196 — What an amazing lineup this week to get interiors from Simonson, Scioli, and Larsen, three men who have done so much to extend Kirby’s legacy while adding their own unique elements to his style. Certainly no one can do a double splash page for you like Erik Larsen, you get the feeling that the original linework displayed such energy and dynamism that the krackle appeared there all on its own “SPONTANEOUS GENERATION!” Larsen continues to entertain while depicting Malcolm bashing the hell out of Dart’s crew with whatever comes to hand. I tell you what, though, that GIANT-SIZE KUNG FU BIBLE STORIES he mentions at the top of the letters column does indeed sound like “the greatest publication in the history of mankind.” I also dig the comic strips on the last page, there, a nice sorbet to cleanse the palette before moving on.

SAGA #21 — It looks like some good old-fashioned married sex isn’t going to be enough to save Marko & Alanna’s marriage. If their infant daughter’s omniscient narration is anything to go by. So sad! The characters have settled into a consistent rhythm. All of their interactions feel natural and unforced. Good for BKV! It was probably a good move to bail out of that Dome debacle. Staples continues to do a beautiful job of crafting this unique universe page after page, as only she can.

ZERO #9 — Ah, God. This one snuck up on me, I really didn’t see that coming until it was happening. Deft character work, this thing spends almost the entire page count masquerading as a tense and very lean back-story piece for a supporting character that’s interesting enough but nothing that knocks your lights out before just gut-punching you right at the very end, there. More strong craft from Ales Kot. More killer art by someone I’ve never heard of called Tonči Zonjić, ably abetted by usual suspects Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles. More people should be talking about this book.

VELVET #6 — The past couple of issues didn’t seem particularly skinny in terms of content, but this one’s got a lot more plot to sink your teeth into. Maybe I’m just dense, but I didn’t realize that Codename: Mockingbird was actually her real husband and that was a not-pretend non-undercover honeymoon when they tried to kill one another that time. That is a pretty solid secret origin for our girl-Friday-turned-deadly-protagonist. If anything, Epting/Breitweiser have stepped up their game since taking the short break. This is grade-A material through and through.

TREES #3 — I liked this one quite a lot. Jason Howard continues to produce nothing but jawdropping pages and Ellis provides us with some interesting characters beats between Professor Luca Bongiorno & Eligia Gatti, as well as a four-page interlude starring young artist Chenglei and his cool new neighbor, Zhen, who look like they’re on the verge of a great adventure. This series is a weird beast, very much a straight character piece starring an ensemble who for the most part seem in no way on the verge of intersecting with one another and then with this terribly ominous premise that’s already so far in the background, I only counted two in-panel appearances and this is only the third issue. Which maybe sounds like a complaint, but I’m enjoying the hell out of this, the writing and art are both first-rate and I dig the languid pace that kind of recalls Marquez or maybe even Borges a little, now that I think about it. God bless Uncle Warren.

SUPREME: BLUE ROSE #1 — Man, I can’t believe we get two Ellis singles in one day. It feels like eight years ago! Coming on the heels of the monster reboots of PROPHET and GLORY (and where is that old PROPHET, anyway? Just realizing that it’s been quite some time), Ellis and newcomer-to-me-at-least Tula Lotay arrive with a surreal piece about an unemployed investigative journalist who has a dream that may or may not take place in the kind of hyper-continuity limbo that Moore trafficked in during his run and that Morrison loves to have his folks go run around in from time to time, but then after this dream, she wakes up and takes a meeting with Darius Dax (the Lex Luthor analogue previously, as I recall), who pays her three hundred thousand dollars right up front to go dig around looking for the titular character. Whose alter ego makes a single appearance this issue. Oh, and our female lead is Diana Dane, the Lois Lane analogue. Lotay is a spectacular find to realize Ellis’s fever dream vision. Even when she’s awake, the washed out pastels and overall palette lend a sense of unreality to the proceedings, which is all well and good for the background, but then the fine linework on the characters’ faces and even some of Diana’s body language recalls Mike Allred. Which is certainly something to shoot for. And in the middle there is a two-page six-panel thing Diana’s watching on her phone called Professor Night (the longest adventure serial in the world), that I can’t decide if it’s anime that took acid and then gobbled up DOCTOR WHO or if Uncle Warren has just crossed over to the far side past Ultimate Mental and is never coming back or what, but it’s glorious. I’m sure some people are going to bitch about Supreme not actually flying around in this or leaping tall buildings with a single bound, but that’s never been the point, and I dig the solid character groundwork that they lay down in this first issue. Now, if only we can get Gordon Cole to turn up and scream at us as to what this is all about.

DAREDEVIL #6 — Hickman might still get the prize for folding this latest Big Event ripple-effect into what he already had going on with Cap’s suppressed memories, but Waid certainly gives him a run for his money here, as he uses Aaron’s premise to cast Battlin’ Jack Murdock in a decidedly less flattering light than we’ve already seen him. Which seems like should be enough to hang an issue on, only Waid is never content to rest on his laurels, instead letting that be nothing more than an inciting incident that propels Matt into some not as much international espionage as let’s just call it diplomatic spycraft involving his mother the nun and Wakanda. A lot going on in twenty pages beautifully illustrated by regular colorist Javier Rodriguez, who knocks it out of the park every chance he gets. I’m not picking up a lot of Original Sin tie-ins, but every single one that I’ve read from my regular Pull has been really solid.

AVENGERS 100TH ANNIVERSARY #1 —When they announced these 100^th Anniversary books, the one that I was certain that I was getting was this one. James Stokoe is a singular one-man band whose gritty detail and linework is only surpassed by his unique kaleidoscopic palette. Even the recap page is more fun than it is has any business being, giving us a new logo, a Previously… summary that tosses off asides like a Seventh Gender War, Dr. Franklin Richards, Herald of Galactus, the American continent being trapped in the Negative Zone, and the Avengers for some reason basing their headquarters in Malaysia. And most importantly, an ad for Marvel Quiblets, horrifying sentient pets that now come in Marvel superhero flavors. Really, just this page by itself almost cooked my brain here at the end of the night. But then you turn the page and it turns out Stokoe is responsible for one-hundred percent of the interiors, too. Beast! The double-page splash of Stark Tower in Kuala Lumpur is by itself almost more than you can take and worth the cover price all on its own. I could go on and on about how much I love every page of this book, but you really should just check it out for yourself, particularly if you are one of those who dig the indie creators on STRANGE TALES aesthetic from that anthology Marvel was putting out a few years back. This is more than just stunning vistas, though, Stokoe crafts a story with a lot of heart featuring a limited ensemble that really makes you wish that this could just be a regular series. Particularly when you get to the last page, I love how he threw that concept out there and then just barely returns to it at the end with such emphasis that it sends your mind reeling. Strong, strong work! Only surpassed tonight by Scioli and that Gotham epilogue.