Comics of the Week

Morning Glories #9 went back and covered what happened to Jun during the events of the first issues when he snuck out of the dorm on his own, and uses this to give us his back story. There are twists throughout, and while none of them are necessarily shocking, the overall story is very well told. Nick Spencer has demonstrated that he knows when to drop pieces of the puzzle and use them to reveal character and depth. Joe Esima's art is masterful. The pages really do come alive. I would love to see this series in an animated version, using Esima's art. There really wasn't one moment in the book I could single out, as the whole issue was just very well put together. I highly recommend getting on board with this series from issue 1.

Detective Comics #876 starts a new story arc with a mystery. A killer whale carcass is found in the lobby of a bank one morning and Commisioner Gordon calls in Dick Grayson (not Batman) to help with the investigation. The story, I'm sure, will progress beautifully in the hands of Snyder as we continue to learn about Gordon's son and Dick's past. There are no complaints about the writing here. But this issue is about the art. Jock is a master. There's really no other way to say it. Turning a page to find this image made me stop and just stare for a bit.

My return to Marvel continues with FF#2. It turns out Hickman isn't all about high concept (Pax Romana, S.H.I.E.L.D.). Here, he demonstrates his ability to play with characters. It's a high compliment that I've never read Fantastic Four or really cared too much about them, but reading this series, it all still rings true. The chemistry of these characters is very clear, and makes me want to see more of their interactions, both negative and positive. Here, Doom has been brought in by one of Reed's children. The mission is to cure Doom, who apparently had suffered a great reduction in his brain (I believe this happened during the Fall of the Hulks storyline). Hickman and Epting manage to put you in the room for every moment, no matter how subtle. I don't know how they manage it, but I can hear the pauses in this exchange, even though there are no wordless panels in it.

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.