Comics of the Week - For Better or Worse

Sometimes, I can't be so positive about what I read. Two books this week were not to my liking and I think one is getting cut off my list. But I guess that's balanced out by the fact that most of the other books I read were outstanding.

I'll get the bad out of the way, first. I loved the first couple of issues of Action Comics after the reboot. It really felt to me like Morrison was making Superman relevant by going back to the Golden Age version of the character. It was a down to earth Superman who wasn't the big hero and still learning the ropes. However, the series slowly started getting into areas that were losing me. So the last few issues, I've just been giving them a chance because, well, it's Morrison, and I know you usually have to give him time to cook. But I think I've completely lost interest in the meal at this point. I don't know whether or not I can say this was a bad issue. I'm sure for fans of the Legion this wasn't as convoluted as it seemed to me. It's not even that I had a hard time following what was happening, as much as that I just wasn't engaged enough to care. Although, the concept of having Superman's enemies create a tesseract inside Superman's brain so they can hide where he'd never find them is not only pure Morrison, it's just awesome. But crazy concepts aren't enough to keep me reading, so I think I'm out.

I've sung many praises about Rick Remender on Uncanny X-Force. And I will likely sing many more. But the current arc will likely not be included in those ballads. Interestingly, this arc is also focused on some crazy concepts, this time involving Otherworld, which I guess is an in between dimension in which the Captain Britain Corps police reality? That's the thing. I think the success of the previous issues is that Remender was able to use existing history and ideas without alienating readers who may not be familiar with them. But this time, it's distancing. I know there's a lot of fighting going on, but I'm not entirely sure who's who. Not helping in this case, is the art by Greg Tocchini. I can get behind non-traditional comic art, but maybe because it's combined with a story that isn't working for me, in this case, the art made the story that much harder to follow. It's interesting to read comments on the Internets on this issue because Tocchini's art is clearly a love it or hate it deal. As usual, I can't land on either side of an extreme like or dislike of it, but I do know it's not working for me on this book. What kept me reading, though, was the characterizations by Remender. He knows how to write these characters and that is why I will stick around. They can't all be winners.

A few months ago, I was considering dropping Invincible. Not because it was bad. I just thought maybe I had read all I needed to read about Mark and company. I could always come back to it and catch up in a few years, instead of reading month to month. But then, last month, Kirkman pulled me back in. This issue went further and now I'm hooked all over again. One thing about Kirkman's books is that nothing is ever to be taken for granted. Not in Walking Dead and not in Invincible. The stakes are always high because anything can happen. Hell, he disintegrated Las Vegas a few issues back, with no fanfare. It was just something that happened in an issue. Something like that happens over at DC or Marvel and it's a two year event with 600 issues of everyone's point of view. But anyway, here we have Allen the Alien coming to wipe out the Viltrumites in hiding on Earth with a virus that may or may not kill all the humans as well. The stand off leads to unexpected alliances and a confrontation that leads to a possible deadly fate for Mark. I could've been more vague, I guess. As usual, Ryan Ottley makes all of this seem like it's being born on the page, all by itself, in beautifully intricate lines. I'm not going anywhere, Invincible. How could I?

Some quick hits:

Animal Man brought us an issue that took a break from the main story without coming off like fill in. We get to watch Tights, the independent movie Buddy Baker stared in a few years ago. Well, we get to see most of it before the batteries on Cliff's phone run out. I was sucked into the movie and hope Lemire comes back to it at some point.

The last issue of Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Harman's Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes was right on. It really served to set up and expand on the world and characters of the original movies, right before Taylor crashes back to Earth. I am more than a little excited for their next Apes mini-series and wonder if it will pick up from here or if it will be a new story. In either case, more, please.

I've been enjoying Swamp Thing, but this is by far, the best issue yet. The action was ramped up here and it really feels like we are now in the middle of some high stakes stuff. Snyder does his usual great work with Marco Rudy on art for this issue. As in past issues, I love that the layouts are part of the tone of the story, working like vines and sort of winding into each other.

Comics of the Week - The Feats of Strengh Edition

Heavy week for comics, quantity and quality. These aren't even all the books I really enjoyed.

As usual, here's my Scott Snyder praise. Batman #4 continues to build the mystery of the Court of Owls. Bruce's revelation that he's been investigating them since he was a boy makes perfect sense. Whether or not the conspiracy ties to his origin remains to be seen. Capullo gets better with each issue. That last page is gold. Not sure what else to say that I haven't said about every other thing Snyder has written, though. This guy is on another level.

This week, we had dueling Batmen, with Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes, the much anticipated continuation of his epic Batman story. coming out as well as Snyder's Batman. In the opening pages, there's a note letting us know this takes place before Flashpoint and the New DCU. We get to see Stephanie Brown back in action as Batgirl and Dick Grayson as Batman. All good. But, I feel like the time between that last we read and the reboot hurts the impact of anything revealed here. By the end of it, I am not sure I care enough. I'm not a continuity freak, but this is the type of story that would have ramifications on the characters. If it has no bearing on the current continuity, then I'm not sure what to do with it. On the flipside, because it's taken so long and it's a double size issue, I think it's over hyped. It's a fine story, but when we get the last reveal, I just didn't see the big deal. Had this played out in regular issues, I think it would have had better impact. None the less, it is what it is and at least we get to see where Morrison was going with this. I still look forward to the next installment.

Fantastic Four 601 was, as much as I hate the overuse of this word, epic. It was huge action and huge moments. Johnny Storm returns from the Negative Zone and the moments where his family realizes he's back were short, but just as powerful as the moments we saw when he died. This, like Morrison's Batman story, has been a long time building and it's clear that Hickman has planted seeds for everything we see from the start. Epting's art is, well, fantastic, as usual.

It was just last week that Uncanny X-Force ended the Dark Angel saga. This week, back again, picking up the pieces, Remender continues to deliver on a book that, apparently, will continue to be one of the best books published in 2012 as it was in 2011. I had one small, maybe-problem with last issue in that last bit when Angel comes back. This issue made it clear that having him be "alive" actually does not take anything away from the beauty, sadness and power of the scene with him and Betsy as he died. I also like that this issue is setting up new pieces for Wolverine and The X-Men. Fantomex has quickly become one of my favorite characters. As much I've enjoyed Wolverine develop as a character, I'm glad Remender let them argue naturally to the point that I feel Logan came off looking like a bit of an asshole. That's character depth. Also, this issue, Robbi Rodriguez on art, fitting in perfectly. His style seems a bit rougher than we've gotten in this series, but that fits thematically since, at this stage, the team is pretty much in shambles. I like it!!

Wonder Woman. Man. This is just good. It's really playing out like a Vertigo book. This is a characterization of Wonder Woman and the gods that I'm not sure I've ever seen, but is exactly right. Azzarello really shines here. I enjoyed 100 Bullets for it's twisting narrative which was appropriate to that story, but here he's letting the characters tell the story by just being. It's a much less complex narrative, so far, though I'm sure things are about to get crazy. Chiang's art is so elegant. I find myself staring at his Wonder Woman in admiration. He draws her like a real woman, who is also a warrior. She does not have giant boobs and a pencil thin waist. She feels real and sexy. I've said graceful in previous posts and that still comes to mind, but also, and obviously, powerful. 

Comics of the Week

One good thing about the DC reboot is that, at least this week, it was a great week for comics. That's not to say everything was a winner, but it was interesting and varied with a good chance that something would stick. Fresh takes and good set ups.

The thing about Grant Morrison is that while he can go to really trippy, surreal and nearly impossible to understand places, he can also get to the heart of what makes a character tick in a mythological sense. With Action Comics #1, he is going to the roots of Superman and doing what no one has been able to do in who knows how long now. For years I've heard (and often said) that Superman was irrelevant, too powerful, outdated, boring, etc. Something had to be done to make the character interesting again. Many attempts have been made to make him hip and relevant, but they all just tried to modernize him and mostly missed the point entirely. Morrison goes back to the forgotten roots here, giving us a Superman on the streets, without all his god-like powers yet, living on the edge in a world that fears him. From the pieced together costume to the attitude, I think this is the right way to develop the character into something that can once again be a character we can relate to. As expected, this is one of my favorite #1's and I will definitely be reading this each month.

Speaking of Morrison, his run on Animal Man in the 80's is a prime example of how a creator can take a character you normally may not be interested in and hook you. But now it's Jeff Lemire's turn and he not only brings it, he brings it to another level. This was easily my favorite of the #1's this week, and as the internets can attest, I'm not alone. Lemire is one of the best writers working today and this is a perfect example of what he does. It's a superhero story, it's a family drama, it's a horror tale, it's all of that and more. Right from the opening prose section that gives us a background on the character in a way that doesn't feel forced, it's clear Lemire is bringing a little piece of the meta aspects of Morrison's run, but making it his own. By the last page, it's something else entirely that had me say out loud "Yeah, I'm in." The art by Travel Forman is also a standout. It's clean and odd and beautiful. It makes you uneasy and captivates you all at once, which is perfect for this material. I almost didn't pick this up, because although I like Lemire, I'm not a huge Animal Man guy, but now, I can't wait for the next issue.

When the reboot titles and creative teams were announced, my biggest disappointment was probably that Scott Snyder was off Detective Comics and moved to Batman. As I've said, his run on Detective is legendary already. Instead, we get Tony Daniels, writing and drawing Detective Comics and based on his work on the Batman title before the reboot, I was not excited. I have to say, this issue was better than that. His art was never the issue, and here it is good as always, if not better. It's clear, however, that he either is getting better at the storytelling or his editors have stepped up to address some of the previous problems. The story itself is a basic Joker vs. Batman affair, with the Joker in his serial killer persona. That's all well and good. The last image is what is apparently setting something up that really could be interesting even if we have no idea at this point what it could be. Overall, though, this issue is definitely geared for the new reader. Some of the dialogue, for those of us who know Batman and have read him for years, comes off a little hokey. To someone who's never read Batman, though, I could see it working. I can't fault Daniels for that, but this may not be my Batman book. Still, I want to see where he's going with the Joker here.

Here's a book I only read because of the creator, and almost didn't. Scott Snyder's Swamp Thing may or may not hook me on the character, but that doesn't mean I won't be reading this book. At this point, if Snyder publishes a grocery list, I will consider reading it. I can't even really put my finger on exactly what makes his work excellent, but I think it's a combination of elements. Some writers you can say they are really good at this one thing, whether it's overall emotion, character, a specific genre, action, etc. With Snyder, it's a complete package type of thing that just stands out somehow. His work is somehow character driven and plot driven at the same time. It's brimming with mood and emotion and things happen organically. It doesn't hurt that he's paired with great artists who can tell a visual story with all the elements, like Yanick Paquette does in this issue. Like Animal Man, this is a horror story, but it is more than that. The word is that this will actually cross over with Animal Man and the idea of Lemire and Snyder working together on a big story boggles my mind. I'm on board with this.

Comic Moments of the Week

Grant Morrison. If you're familiar with his work, you know that is a complete sentence. Batman, Inc. #4 is a pretty good example of the roller coaster that it is to read a Morrison book. Tracing the history of the first Batwoman while also featuring the new Batwoman, it brings in elements from different eras in Batman history. This is exactly what Morrison set out to do with Batman a few years ago. His approach is that everything that we've ever seen of Batman has, in some way, actually happened, no matter how crazy or contradictory. The result is actually pretty interesting because when Morrison writes Batman, you don't know what to expect. It could be dark, campy and lately, sexy, but always, pretty batshit (pun intended) crazy. Overall, though, it's just plain fun. Even though this issue was a little confusing at times, which is to be expected from Morrison until you get whole picture, it still had great moments, like this flashback.

Also out is FF #1 by Jonathan Hickman, another writer who can be pretty heady (Pax Romana, Nightly News, S.H.I.E.L.D.). This is the relaunch of Fantastic Four, which ended last month with issue 588, after the death of The Human Torch. I don't normally read Marvel and I wasn't reading Fantastic Four, but I do like Hickman and figured this would be a good jumping on point. I enjoyed the issue a lot, but I'm not entirely sure it's a great jumping on point. Basically, Reed Richards now heads The Future Foundation, and there are a bunch of kids, human and alien running around in the building, doing high level science genius type things. Also, Reed's father, who was lost in time is back and living with them. S.H.I.E.L.D. features Reed's dad (as well as Tony Stark's) traveling through time so I wonder if this is a direct tie in to that book. I'm sure this would all make more sense if I had read previous issues. However, in the end, it doesn't matter all that much. The atmosphere and the characters are pretty clear. Spider-man is brought in to take the Torch's spot on the team and at the end of the book there is another surprise appearance of someone who will be joining the Foundation. I'll stick with this book for a while.

Manga for the Comics Guy: Gantz Vols. 3 and 4

It's getting harder to tell where one volume ends and the other begins. The breaks make for great cliffhangers, while at the same time, flowing as if there was no break.

It's basic Western comic book storytelling. Hell, it's basic serialized storytelling period. As a matter of fact, Grant Morrison's Batman, Inc. is currently taking the cliffhanger to a whole new level of awesome, by harking back to the cliffhangers of the good old days and the old Batman TV Series. So, basically, here's something manga and American comics have in common.

There are some moments of pure male adolescent sexual fantasy in this. This is fine, but I hope the characterization of the girl gets some more dimension soon or this will fall into being too stereotypical. How many times do we have to see her getting naked? And for that matter, how many guys have to try to rape her? Is this a common thing in Japan? I don't think so. There are hints of her being a bit more clever than we are seeing, which is a good sign.

I enjoyed the way the new characters were introduced in chapters that focused exclusively on the new characters and left me a little disoriented until the end. I almost wanted a few more chapters like this before getting back into the main plot and action.What you get from it is actually more of a sense of familiarity with the main characters when you get back. We've seen the technique many times in TV shows and I think it was very well done here.

While some questions were answered, a lot remains a mystery. And now that the one person who seemed to know is apparently dead, the stakes are even higher. Can't wait to get deeper into the mystery. Speaking of mysteries, today is new comic book day and out this week is Nick Spencer's Morning Glories #8, another great mystery that is slowly building.