Comics of the Week - Not So Much

I wasn't blown away by anything this week. There were some solid books, but nothing that necessarily inspires me to write. That said, FF #16 works well as an epilogue and set up for the next Fantastic Four arc. I've read that Jonathan Hickman will be off both titles in October and I say "NOOOOO!!!!" What he seems to be setting up next seems just as great as what we've seen so far from him. But, we'll see who takes over next. Azzarello and Risso's Spaceman is a strange book. I think I want to like it more than I actually do. Ultimately, what I loved so much about the first issue, the language, is probably what I find troubling now. I just can't find a way into the story in a compelling way. Although, this issue was better than the last couple and I plan on finishing the whole miniseries, I'm just not sure where it's going and not in a good way.

Anyway, since there's not much to say about the comics I read, I'll instead talk about why I'm not going to read Avengers vs. X-Men. The short answer is I don't care. I'm just not too interested in these characters to begin with. I'm also not interested in big events anymore. But ultimately, I think the reason I am not reading it is because I'm tired of continuity. My approach to comics is that what "matters" is what I read. If I don't read it, then it doesn't "matter." Very simple. For example, I read two Batman books. Anything that happens in the other books, I don't care. From the looks of things, the Batman in the Justice League book is not the same as the Batman I read in Snyder's Batman or Tomasi's Batman and Robin. Does that upset me? No. Doesn't matter to me what happens in Justice League because I don't read it.

An event like AvX is basically about reinforcing continuity and making it seem like all the books should "matter." In other words, it's about selling books. It's about getting you to buy books you don't normally read. But then, once the event is over (and sometimes even during the event) you'll find that the continuity that the publisher is trying to reinforce, falls apart and just doesn't make sense. So, I say screw continuity. Let each book, each story, stand on its own. If they happen to cross over in a more organic way, that's fine, but you should still be able to pick and choose and still get a complete story. And while an event doesn't really take away your ability to pick and choose, I've seen enough of these now to know that, particularly with Marvel, the wrong choice of book means you really will miss key elements of the story. I'm not taking that gamble anymore.

Another reason I'm not reading it is because how often will Marvel's heroes get into these all out wars before the rest of the world decides it's had enough? Why does Marvel even need villains anymore?

Comics of the Week - A Different Set of #1's

For a while now I've been enjoying Jason Aaron's Wolverine. It's been a great mix of fun and dark, taking full advantage of Logan's complexity as a character. Now that the X-Men have split into two camps with Cyclops leading one team and Logan building a school, the potential for a fresh new take on, not just Wolverine, but the X-Men in general, is ripe. So, does Aaron's Wolverine and The X-Men #1 deliver? Oh, hell yeah, it does. This was an incredibly fun read. It's the first day of class at The Jean Grey Institute for Higher Learning and Headmaster Logan and Headmistress Kitty Pryde are giving a tour to representatives of the New York Board of Education. Hilarity ensues. Along the way, we meet several of the young mutants at the school as they attend classes and generally get into trouble. Many intriguing elements are set into play to be explored in the series, such as a young Brood child who Logan has invited to the school, but is instantly and ironically made outcast by the other young mutants. The new school, designed by Beast, is basically a self sustained city of the future. Of course, by the end of the issue, when the Hellfire Club unleashes what appears to be a creature made of the Earth itself, it's unclear how much of the new designs will remain intact. Bachalo's art, I'll be honest, took me a few panels to get into. It's rather cartoony, but once I got into the story, which happened pretty quickly, it made perfect sense. Pick this up, even if you haven't read X-Men in years. It's just good fun.

Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's Spaceman #1 is a hard book to pin down because it is so smartly written. Rather than spending time explaining the, apparently, post-apocalyptic world it takes place in, we are just thrown into it, after a short prologue that also doesn't explain a whole lot. We are introduced to a character that looks like some mix of Neanderthal and gorilla, and we are completely unsure if this is what all the characters will look like. Quickly, we see that the other characters look like normal humans, but the explanation for the appearance of the main character, who we then find out is named Orson, comes across in conversation, almost halfway into the book. These are all good things because you can just watch the story unfold rather than being bogged down by a ton of explanation. By the end of the issue, we start to realize that while this book is set in a Sci-Fi world, the actual story will be more of a classic Noir. And, really, what else would you expect from this team? Once again, Risso sets a mood like few other artists can. Azzarello is working with some interesting dialogue here, as well. In the tradition of A Clockwork Orange, he's developed a future dialect that appears to be a commentary on the dumbing down of our culture. Rather than actually laughing, for example, characters say "LOL." This series should be interesting and I'm very much looking forward to the next issue.

Comics of the Week

It's official. The best book of the Flashpoint tie ins, by far, was Batman Knight of Vengeance. If I had any complaint about this mini series, it would be that it could have maybe used one more issue, but that's really just maybe. This issue wrapped up what is basically the story of two parents who lost a child and dealt with it in different, horrifying ways. In the end, it's a metaphor for some very real issues and that's where the power of this lies. Sure, on one level Azzarello and Risso give us a gritty Batman story, but, really it doesn't have to be Batman at all. It could easily just be any two parents.The creepy factor in this issue comes mostly from the recognition that these are human beings. Where the Joker in regular continuity is best when he's least explained, here the origin gave the story depth. The flashback panels of the Waynes in Crime Alley capture the desperation and horror of losing a child while perfectly illustrating how each parent will be dealing with the loss. By the time we get to the end, where the Flashpoint part of this comes into play (if only slightly), Martha's reaction is just perfect. There's no happy ending to this story in any universe.

Severed #1 is the beginning of something that I think could be as big as Walking Dead. That might sound like a huge exaggeration based on one issue, where, to be honest, not a lot happens, but what is evident in this book is an attention to detail that is setting up a mood, a time and a place in a way that few books do or can. Scott Snyder (yeah, him again) and Scott Tuft are in no hurry to give us big scares and gore. Instead, they are meticulously setting up the characters and putting us in the middle of life in 1916 America in a way that is not glamorized at all. And what they do with the writing is carefully supported by Attila Futaki's art. Like the best horror movies, even when nothing is happening, you feel tension from the way even the most mundane images are composed. The slightly off balance frames make every page ominous in subliminal ways that emphasize the danger of a boy heading out to be a hobo and ride the rails. This is horror done right.

Comics of the Week

Flashpoint: Batman Knight of Vengeance #1 brings together the team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso who gave us the brilliant 100 Bullets. That alone is enough to make this something to look forward to. As I've said all along, the Flashpoint tie ins are going to be the best part of the event. In this case, that couldn't be more true. Here we have Batman, a gritty Batman, who is out for vengeance against criminals (familiar so far) because he lost his son. In the Flashpoint world, you see, Bruce Wayne is dead. Instead, Thomas Wayne, his father, survived that fateful night in Crime Alley after seeing his son shot dead in front of him. And as any parent can attest, that's a whole different type of anger. This Batman is not playing around. Azzarello manages to give us a fully formed character in Thomas Wayne in one issue. This old, grizzled and hardened man is not open to bullshit of any kind, as Batman or as Thomas Wayne. His life mission has lead him to build a casino in order to bring the criminals to him. He's managed to privatize the Gotham police department. He's not messing around. And all the while, he's got what Barry Allen told him about a different reality in which his son is alive knocking around in the back of his mind. This will only be a 3 issue series, but I would love it if they later had a series covering Thomas Wayne's past in this world. Great material here.

Flashpoint #2 continues from the first issue with Barry Allen explaining who he is to Thomas Wayne. We also get glimpses of Deathstroke, Wonder Woman and Aquaman in this alternate reality. I like the idea of the Amazonians and Atlanteans being at war. It just makes sense that it would happen this way. All in all it was pretty good. There's interesting ideas here and the last panel, in which we see the results of Barry Allen trying to recreate the accident that made him the Flash so he could get his powers back was kind of funny to me because what happens is what you'd expect to happen in real life.

Fear Itself #3 is a sharp contrast to Flashpoint. Just like the last issue, not much goes on here. The main book of the Fear Itself event reads like a Readers Digest version of what's going on in the other books. Granted, it all sounds interesting, but then why even have this book out? Why not do away with the actual Fear Itself book and just have the event take place in the rest of the books? I am sticking with my decision to only follow the main book, but once it's over, I may go back and read some of the tie ins. Overall, though, I couldn't really tell you what's going on in the event. This issue doesn't even serve the purpose of bringing it all together except to set up that Steve Rogers will likely be Captain America again by the end of the event. This is a good example of why these big events are so frustrating to fans. One year, they are used to make sweeping changes and the next they are used to set things back to what they were before. All the while, telling us how things will never be the same.