Posted in: Comics | Tagged: absolution, Animal Man Annual, avatar, Batman Annual, batman inc, Bedlan, captain marvel, collider, Comics, dc, Detective Comics Annual, Flash Annual, guardians of the galaxy, image, marvel, morning glories, sex, Superman Annual, tom strong, uber, What If AVX, x-men

Eighteen Thoughts About Eighteen Comics – Tom Strong, Batman Inc, Animal Man Annual, Batman Annual, Uber, Collider, Detective Comics Annual, Morning Glories, Bedlan, Sex, X-Men, Superman Annual, Captain Marvel, What If AVX, Absolution, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Flash Annual

Published Wed, 31 Jul 2013 12:09:01 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Sat, 24 Aug 2013 10:37:12 -0500

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Tom Strong knows the score. So, today, that's exactly what I did. And here's what I thought.

Grant Morrison's Batman comes to an end. Not with a bang, but with a moo and a miaow. It's a time of reckoning, a look back through the entire run, a meeting with Commissioner Gordon and a kiss with Talia.

And in the run through we get a tie in with Zero Year, just to show Grant's happy to play with the others, and then he gives DC a gift. Remember once upon a time, Jeff Lemire was going to write DC comic called The Robins? Well, he's just been given a very different opportunity to do it again if he wants…

Animal Man is also dealing with the death of a son, though someone manages not to snog the mother who saw to his death. Instead its a story of loss, of memories, of familial responsibility and only having a certain level of power. Also, spiders. Warning, it may bring tears to those with kids. And fears to those who hate spiders.

For some reason, Captain America and Batman have been joined at the hip of late. Both dying after being shot by a magic gun, both going on a trip through time while their sidekick takes over their role, and launching new companion books, Captain America And Bucky and Batman And Robin. Well, today's Detective Comics Annual continues that trend by giving Batman a Red Skull to fight…

The new Vertigo comic Collider uses colour in an entertaining fashion, creating a living, breathing, organic element to the gravitational vortices. Too much, comics is stuck on the ink line, digital colouring is helping to remove that necessity.

Morning Glories#26 is still all shooty and cursey, underneath those multiple covers…

As is the crazy Gothamesque world of Bedlam from the same writer and publisher. I need something to refresh the palate.

"Kicked Your Ass"? Like "Kick Ass"? Like "Hit Girl?" Thank you, Absolution: Rubicon.

Winston Churchill, man after my own heart. Uber gets him in a rather entertaining fashion.

X-Men, a comic that certainly has helped rebalance the superhero comics gender disparity, also does a mean line in men in suits standing with their hands in their pocket, pushing out their groin and making very masculine stance threats…

Some long for a Lois Lane comic. I would buy such a thing, probably. Well, today, the new Superman Annual gives you the closest you'll get for some time, and it's a rather relateable one. And yes, it's written by Scott Lobdell. But if that's enough to stop you, then there's something wrong with you, not the comic.

The Batman Annual introduces us to the oldest of Arkham Asylum's residents, before the house went all batshit crazy. And only slightly freaky patients get ignored. See, that's the problem with a system based around meritocracy, it ends with everyone dying painfully.

Is there any way we can make this the new Goddamn Batman?

The problem for What If AVX is that it wasn't the What If AVX I wanted. I wanted the one where the Phoenix still gets split into five but the Avengers aren't so arsey about it all, and the world is transformed for the better by them. But maybe that would have been a bit too boring, and wouldn't have had Wolverine knifing Storm by accident of Magneto squashing Nova's head…

Looks like Brian Bendis has been reading the Bleeding Cool forums. I fear for his sanity.

And the very nature of the secret identity crumbled away in Flash Annual. Do not pay attention to the man behind the curtain!

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London. Currently running the Cats & Cartoonists exhibition, to be followed by Dead Cats, an exhibition of Christian Ward's work. Uber and Absolution are published by Bleeding Cool's owner, Avatar.