If you guessed that it was supernatural crime books, you'd be right.
12 - Uncanny X-Force #19.1 (last issue - 7 out of 14 books)
So, you remember when then red-hot Dan Slott did Rick Remender a solid by writing a point one issue of The Amazing Spider-Man that acted more as an issue #0 for Venom, but it didn’t matter because it was great and drummed up interest in the new title?
Well, here red-hot writer Rick Remender attempts to do David Lapham a soildi by writing a point-one issue of Uncanny X-Force that acts more as a #0 issue for the upcoming Age of X. Except the concept doesn’t work here. This issue is about literally removing everything that was fun about the original “Age of Apocalypse” storyline and replacing it with less interesting characters, the leader of whom has abandoned a religious zealotry in favor of an atheistic, anti-mutant zealotry that’s still kind of bat$#!% crazy.
It doesn’t work. Even as we’re shown what a bad thing mutants are in what’s left of AoA (and effectively taking care of anyone that might prove contrary), the scripting here doesn’t entice me to root for humanity and certainly doesn’t beg me to find out more. If I want to support a new David Lapham endeavour, I think I’ll stick with this week’s Ferals.
11 - Action Comics #5 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)
I’m not saying that this wasn’t well-done. It was. Jonathan and Martha Kent, shown at a moment when they’re about to give up on having a family discover an alien baby who was launched away from a dying planet as his biological parents’ last resort. The problem is that everyone knows this about Superman. Heck, most people even know about the Phantom Zone. There are fun twists to the old tale. Pa Kent’s “Space Man” he presents to those inspecting the crash site. Krypto showing a dog’s loyalty while getting a free ticket to show up again. All fun little additions.
In true Morrison fashion, there is more here, as well. Mysterious evil ambiguously time-traveling to a point in time we’re not quite sure of (though the LOSH shows up, so there’s that) on a mission for some fake science Kryptonite...you know, Morrison stuff that so abruptly moves around and assumes the reader knows things to the point that I was almost certain that I missed a few pages in the reading.
It’s been a while since a Morrison story did that to me, and it always makes me feel like the problem is with me rather than the storytelling...but I think this time the problem was the storytelling.
10 - Wolverine & the X-Men: Alpha and Omega #1 (last issue - n/a)
Brian Wood writes a fun Quentin Quire, there’s no doubt about that. The teenager who thinks he is the revolution and the answer to all the world’s (re: his world’s) problems, only actually may possess the power to do something about it that Grant Morrison gifted the Marvel Universe is on full display here. The arrogance mixed with the dorky hormones that only a teenage boy can have. Because of this, I’m sticking around for another issue.
The downside is that much of this issue is played out in the supremely well-worn and (to me) slightly boring X-Men trope of “Character A is having his mind messed with by Psychic Y and will have to realize it before it’s too late.” Wood gives a go at trying to find an interesting take, showing how hard it is for an omega-level novice to keep this construct in check, but that’s still not nearly as interesting as the character’s reaction to having to work that hard.
9 - Avengers: X-Sanction #2 (last issue - 5 out of 10 books)
Lots of posturing and explaining to each other how and why Iron Man and Cable are getting the upper hand. This type of stuff is why I never end up reading an Iron Man comic for very long.
There’s a point where Cable begins to grill his Avenging prisoners about what they want with Hope before she’s on the Avengers’ radar and how they got things they still don’t have yet that’s either brilliant (Cable admits that his mind is going during his inner monologue) or full-on ridiculous. Loeb’s track record, particularly with Marvel, has me believing there’s an equal chance of it being one or the other. Until I can figure that out, I can’t put this issue any higher on the list.
8 - Suicide Squad #2 (last issue - 5 out of 14 books)
Not quite as strong as the debut, but still a sneaky good issue. As ridiculous as the premise of a stadium full of techno-virus infected people that need to be dealt with is, we did get a lot of nice character beats in the form of the reaction to all of that. We’re shown proof that these high stakes missions are as dangerous as the name of the book implies, just not always for the reasons we’d expect.
The art was inconsistent, ranging from expressive Harley closeups (the good), to some very cartoony action scenes that stood stylistically in contrast to the story that was being told (that can work, but it didn’t here).
7 - Swamp Thing #5 (last issue - 4 out of 9 books)
The Rot had a good week this week, which is of course pretty bad for our hero and his girlfriend (except she’s all “you aren’t my boyfriend, my boyfriend was a vegetable garden who thought he was you.). Honestly, all kidding about the weirdness of the Alec/Abby relationship aside, this is a pretty touching issue about how two people whose very beings tell them that they shouldn’t be together can find each other in the place that doesn’t fully belong to what’s inside either of them.
6 - The Boys #62 (last issue - 3 out of 9 books)
The action is ramping up, the characters are all in place, and every little action means something bigger than what’s being shown. We’re given various characters and being shown how close, yet how far, they are from the final preparations for the showdown everyone has been working since issue #1 to avoid.
Ennis even uses anti-climax for Hugie and his Herogasm experience to show not just the gravity of the situation, but to give a definitive statement on the nature of superhero team books. No one can do the things The Boys have to do and come out on the other end as tender moments people.
5 - Animal Man #5 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)
Things get darker. The race to save Buddy’s family, the introduction and explicit nature of the Rot, and some truly disturbing visuals all come together for a horrifyingly wonderful build to the lowest point for our heroes yet.
Lemire manages to balance all of this out with some lighter dialogue that works to diffuse the hopelessness and terror, even if it lasts for just a moment. Turning that humor (most of it directed at Buddy’s resentment of Socks the Talking Cat) and then making into a genuinely powerful moment where Buddy shows the cat that his family is more important than the Red connects as a powerful character beat. Series is running full speed towards a truer crossover with Swamp Thing.
4 - Avengers Annual #1 (New Avengers Annual #1 - 5 out of 8 books)Part II picks up with some angry Avengers and an odd amount of standing and talking given the stakes, the players, and the tone set by the New Avengers Annual from a while back. It still all works when its put together though. Big things like Simon’s “The Avengers must be stopped” point of view, which was a little too easy to sympathize with the last time around, is portrayed as more clearly from crazy land with a hint of truth. All of this while going at the public with that crazy, matching up oddly enough with what Osborn will be doing later (re: now - this story is almost certainly pre Fear Itself). If I didn’t know any better I’d say Bendis was playing a long game here.
And the last few pages are just ominous enough to make me thing that long game has something to do with a very hyped super hero brawl event coming to a Marvel Comic near you...
3 - Ferals #1 (last issue - n/a)
David Lapham, I didn’t know that what I really wanted right now was a comic that took the Stray Bullets crime chops and married them to the gory supernatural bent of Caligula. It has the sketchy characters, all of whom are hiding something, none of whom seem to be able to be trusted beyond any particular moment.
Oh, and some big violent werewolf action that’s left people limbless and otherwise creatively maimed and killed. All connected, somehow, to one man’s pain and anger (in case you wanted a little Young Liars tossed in for good measure). I’m excited about this one.
2 - Fatale #1 (last issue - n/a)
Speaking of crime and the supernatural, Brubaker & Phillips’ latest collaboration hit those notes even harder and better than Ferals managed on its first time out. The prologue written to set up a mystery in a far futured place from where the mystery exists (though I’m certain the mystery will touch our initial character again), but gives only the faintest hint that there’s more to what’s going on than a typical, grounded crime story.
Even as we then flash back, only the startling resemblance and shared name which suggest we’re likely not dealing with a grandmother at all hint at something larger and more sinister until the last few pages, when the scope opens to some manner of Lovecraftian horror. I’m looking forward to seeing where this is all headed.
1 - Rachel Rising #4 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)
More Supernatural Crime Drama!
Holy crap Terry Moore, this is seriously disturbing and wonderful stuff. Our mystery lady, creepy little girl, and balding douchebag really steal the show at the end of the issue here with a scene that doesn’t tell us much in terms of story, yet manages to show us so much about what’s going on in that end.
As for Rachel and her friends, there was still a wonderful piece of work in the morgue as those who love her the most finally realize what’s happened to her. Rachel, it seems, has the hardest time with it in a scene that is wonderfully reminiscent of Strangers in Paradise. This title has everything going for it right now.
0 comments:
Post a Comment