And another regular bit to add to the blogging, the weekly comics pulls… Starting things off with a hefty week that sees the ends of several stories and arcs, while a few others begin.
DC/Vertigo:
Battle for the Cowl: Gotham Gazette – Batman Alive? – With the Battle for the Cowl mini finishing up this week, this one-shot serves as an endcap to the quasi-event, pairing with the opening Gotham Gazette – Batman Dead? one-shot that kicked it off. We check in with Detective Bullock, Leslie Thompkins, Stephanie Brown (Spoiler), and Vicki Vale while providing a bit of closure and opening some new doors for these secondary characters, and Gotham itself has survived its latest struggle. Reasonably enjoyable, and the art for the Vicki Vale section (each segment had its own art team) was a treat, and served as a nice tease for Guillem March’s upcoming work in Gotham City Sirens.
And with that out of the way, we’re ready to plunge into the new Bruce Wayne-free Bat books, none of which are looking bad by any means. We’ve got the Grant Morrison-Frank Quitely Batman and Robin, Red Robin (okay, this one I’ll probably pass on), Streets of Gotham (my Birds of Prey replacement? the better part of the team’s here anyhow), Gotham City Sirens (Gotham’s bad girls combined with Guillem March’s gorgeous work = eye candy overload), Batgirl (with a mystery about who lingers behind her mask now), and the biggie, Detective Comics with Greg Rucka and JH Williams. Quite a good time to be a fan of the Bat Family.
Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1 – The last of the Aftermath miniseries to get started, Ink puts villian-turned-JLA member Tattooed Man in a very street level tale as he discovers life on the right side of the law. Not a bad start to the mini here, but the story itself seems familiar and looks like it will lead to a bad end… at least, it looked like it was going to be pretty straightforward up until the last page, where we get a bit of a surprise. Consider my interest piqued thanks to that, but still, I like all of the other Aftermath titles better so far. Of course, its still early, with just the one issue out for each, so we’ll see how things turn out.
Justice League of America #33 – Continuing the tale of repowering Dr. Light II (with a nice bit of presumed finality to Dr. Light I) and integrating the Milestone Comics characters into the DCU, this one had something resembling a comfortable flow to it, and a nice surprise in the form of Paladin’s return(a fake/alternate cowboy version of Batman from an earlier JLA arc). To be perfectly honest though, as Black Canary’s prominence in the title diminishes, so does my interest in the book, and her prone form on the cover was all she wrote here. Zatanna’s presence helps, but its quickly sliding to a point where I’ll be dropping it (which is probably a good thing, given the incoming mass of Bat books).
Madame Xanadu #11 – After having what was essentially a 10-issue origin arc, our titular character has finally settled into her fortune-teller/mystic services role in 1940s New York City, something that looks like it could make for some interesting pulpy tales if we stick to this time period. As we open, she’s put on the case of a murder most foul as a woman visits her father’s suite, only to discover his charred skeleton in a case the police attribute to Spontaneous Human Combustion, woo, happy times. We also spend a number of pages flashed back to another historical period, this time Spain under Torquemada’s Inquisition, and its very plain to see that this will come to a Bad End.
Northlanders #17: The Viking Art of Single Combat – Another one-shot in Brian Wood’s ongoing series of Viking tales, this time he’s dedicated an entire issue to a single fight between two champions, that of the drunken Eastern clan leader and that of the Western clan leader whose hall the Eastern leader burned down. As the title suggests, Wood goes into great detail as he enlightens us on the weapons and tactics of Viking combat, provides details about the weaponry involved that’s just as intimate as the backgrounds of our combatants, quotes the Sagas, and somehow makes it all flow together seamlessly with the fighting. Truly another reason why Brian Wood is someone you should be reading his stuff, and the format of Northlanders, with it beginning and ending new tales all the time, makes it a great place to start.
Trinity #52 – And so it ends. Rather than the one last fight teased by the end of #51, we spend the bulk of the issue back at the cafe where it all began, as all the heroes hold a party to commemorate the affair before it fades from memory with one of those happy fun plot devices that keeps things mostly status quo (important here, as it all takes place before R.I.P. and Final Crisis). The changes/introductions include letting Enigma to continue on on the Anti-Matter Earth, which makes me happy as he was quite an enjoyable creation from the series. Overall, I’m quite satisfied with the series, a big huge smashup with an enormous scope that was exactly the sort of thing it should have been, and feels like it would make either a great animated movie or a season-long event if JLU was ever ressurected (which it won’t be, sadly). That said, bring on Wednesday Comics!
Marvel:
Immortal Iron Fist #26 – Another arc finishes as the Immortal Weapons succeed in making their escape from the Eighth City (aka Hell). More fighting, more horrific and appropriately hellish imagery, and more of Danny pushing for a better path of acknowledgement and reconciliation with the troubled history of K-un Lun. Then Danny returns home, where its implied that things aren’t as normal as they seem, and the issue ends. This has me intrigued about what happens in the next issue, particularly as the issues after that are a series of one-and-dones focusing on each of the other Immortal Weapons.
Moon Knight #30 – And another arc finishes… repeating myself much? While there was murder-a-plenty, it was actually a fairly anticlimactic issue, with Moon Knight essentially acknowledging this other Mexican death god(or avatar of, like himself) and walking away rather than getting into a huge brawl like the cover teases. Still, it was nicely done, and I continue to like what they’re doing with the character, such damaged goods, wanting to escape from it all, but constantly being dragged back in. Of course, the highlight of the whole arc was easily the Merc Luchadore brothers, I surely hope they become a regularly part of the Marvel U, as they were quite entertaining. Next arc looks to be gunning for Norman Osborn (wonder if we’ll get a Deadpool teamup…)
Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine #6 – Finally, 3 1/2 years after first starting, all six issues are out and it is complete! The dialogue has easily been my favorite part of the miniseries, and this issue was no exception, both with Wolverine’s internal monologue and his little chats with Banner, Hulk, and Ross. Of all the matchups between the two, especially recently with both Hulk Vs and Wolverine and the X-Men, this has probably been my favorite incarnation of the perpetual fighting between the two of them. Despite my usual hesitation about double-dipping, I’m eagerly awaiting the HC collection, as it was just such a blast (and the singles are going to a friend).
War Machine #6 – In an odd break from what has become the norm, War Machine is starting its second arc with issue 6, rather than finishing the first one up. With his crew in tow, War Machine pays a visit to his mom in the Southwest US before beginning his assault on an American military facility. Giving the issue something to do, American Eagle shows up to try and talk him out of it, giving the appearance of having some pretty hax skills in the process, but falling for a fakeout that leaves you wondering if they’re really all that crazy. More damaged goods, but damaged goods with a purpose, and an inability to turn away from the wrongs of this world (the perfect machine memory certainly doesn’t help).
X-Force #15 (Messiah War Part 5) – Hey look, this one’s only almost finished with this issue. Little bits of development with X-23 and (Arch)Angel, the former showing signs of irritation(hey, for her, this counts), the latter taking control of himself and refusing to bow before Apocalypse. Lots of villianous monologuing, and the first half of the final showdown (which concludes over in the next issue of Cable). Admittedly though, while this has been an interesting diversion for the book, I’m eager for them to get back to the present so they can get back to the arc they were quite literally in the middle of.
Other Publishers:
Ignition City #3 – Warren Ellis’s retro-future tale continues, with lots of drinking, Great Cosmonaut Yuri being great, and the introduction of Corrupt Rocketeer Marshal. While the plot, alterna-history, and dialogue have been quite enjoyable, I think all of the junked spacecraft making up the buildings and backgrounds are my favorite part of the book. Its like they’ve pillaged ships from the breadth of classic sci-fi and crashed them all into the ground on one small island, then let them decay for a few decades.
Special Forces TPB – Finally collected, I finally get to the last part, as well as a reread of the whole, in this distinctly different war story from Kyle Baker. Following a squad of true misfits through a post-war mission in Iraq to capture one of the remaining terrorist leaders, we follow along as everything just goes to shit, one way after another, and the squad’s membership keeps on decreasing before we’re left with two- the autistic Zone doing everything in his power to continue and complete the mission, and the felon Felon constantly trying to keep Zone’s ass alive. An action masterpiece in its own right, its also a powerful tribute to the people who’ve been sent to war to die who had no business being there in the first place, and highly recommended.
Whew, quite a week, thank goodness they aren’t all this full though.
