Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, dark horse, dc, image, marvel

Last Week's Comics In Nineteen Panels

Published Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:00:32 -0500

Dr Manolis Vamvounis writes;

I ALWAYS DREAMED OF MY VERY OWN TREEHOUSE SPACESHIP TOO

The sad news is that we have to wait three months for the next installment of SAGA after #6. The good news is that it's still very awesome indeed. This is definitely a different beast from BKV's previous series. There is no big catchy twist of a concept to hook readers in, the audience's loyalty and love is earned (and rewarded) each and every month with intriguing new characters and newer crazier ideas (although you never go without the trademark last page BKV cliffhanger.

ALLRED APPRECIATION

The Allred takeover of DAREDEVIL #17 started from an innocent enough twitter exchange between writer Mark Waid and Mike on twitter and moved quite fast indeed to create the most beautifully illustrated book of the series. Laura Allred IS showing off a bit here with all the watercolour and coloured pencils backgrounds atop her as always immaculate colour palette. I kinda wish we could get this swanky retro battle against the Stilt-man presented in a format similar to Allred's classic Vertigo book "Vertical" (a half-width comic book stapled on the top narrated in 20 inch tall and 3 inch slim splash pages with Allred's signature stop motion storytelling style). Plus, after all the retro-snazzy action is over, you still get an incredible tear-jerker sequence that is too sweet to spoil here.

BIG HEAD, BIG HANDS, BIG HEART

THE CREEP #0 collects the character's short stories from Dark Horse Presents before the launch of the new series in September. Oxel is an unlikely protagonist, a private investigator suffering from acromegaly who accepts a case to look into the mysterious suicides of his high school sweetheart's teenage son. Jonathan Case and John Arcudi's storytelling choices here feature very original juxtapositions of image and text to create a variety of moods. Case's style keeps changing through the story to adapt perfectly to the needs of each sequence. I'm not too sure what to make of the protagonist just yet, but the sheer artistry involved is enough to make this a must-recommend.

WHAT SAUCERY IS THIS

The entirety of SAUCER COUNTRY #6 is (literally) a lecture on the secret origins of flying saucers, alien abductions and little green (or grey) men. Paul Cornell cross-pollinates established real-world UFO "history" with his own story concepts and pop culture obsessions as he examines the sociopolitical currents that led to the UFO craze. The resulting tirade is quite plausible and very much cuckoo in the head.

THE END OF SEXY TIMES

THE GOON #40 takes us ways back to the age (well, more like half a week) of the prohibition. It's illicit alcohol trafficking, crime and drag racing. Oh, and zombies. Always with the zombies.

AND MARVILLE IS THE BEST SELLING COMIC OF ALL TIME

Something's "not quite right" with the alternate reality that everyone's favourite former teenage mutant sensations find themselves trapped inside in NEW MUTANTS #47, kicking off the book's final story arc. It's a great example of what this book does so well, taking tired concepts like "evil future selves" and "dystopian parallel realities" and making sense of them on a human level, filterd through the eyes of these young people who have spent the better part of the last decade of their lives immersed in that sort of sci-fi craziness.

THIS JUST IN: WONDER WOMAN NOT INTO THE LADIES

What better place to dispel these nasty nasty rumours than a guest-appearance in BATWOMAN #12? Wouldn't want people talking, now would we? J.H. Williams III is back on art, doing some crazy things with the storytelling that I'm sure are illegal in certain parts of the world, but there's nothing unexpected about that.

SUPERGIRL'S SECRET NEW POWER: SUPER-TEENAGE-GIRLISM

Could Kara possibly have a more paranoid, knee-jerk reaction to who she's probably already realized by now is the most celebrated hero on this new (?) planet. SUPERGIRL #12 finally brings the two exiled super-cousins back together in a civilized(-ish) manner. This book has been the most slow-moving of the New 52, but I appreciate its sense of direction and what feels like an over-arching story for the character. Now, if (present day) Frank Miller was writing his book, the next panel would go something like:

THE GODDAMN SUPREME

Yup, as seen in SUPREME #66 where the relaunched "Goddamn Supreme" (the Frank Miller of Superman knock-offs) fights off against the Alan Moore retro-tastic Supergirl tribute, Suprema. Erik Larsen is playing around with the idea of the innocent (and a bit dim-witted) Silver Age versus the violent modern age of comics, but it all gets a bit confusing when heroes from other Image books show up in this supposed shared universe where they also exist as characters inside the actual Image comic books published there. Meta will eat itself.

MA LAZARUS

CAPTAIN ATOM #12 is another great example of what we see in SUPERGIRL. The character has been growing in power exponentially (and uncontrollably) since the DCNu reboot, surpassing even his most famous "copycat", Dr Manhattan. It's a daring take on the character (getting him to a power level where he can easily bend time and resurrect the dead) that has flown completely below the radar of most readers.

BLONDE MOMENT OF THE WEEK

Oh, Sylvie, you so dumb girl. AVENGERS ACADEMY #35 and the "Final Exam" storyline takes every trite and tired beat from every single "cure for our disfiguring powers" story and pulls them together in a story that actually has a real emotional punch to it. You see guys like the Thing or Rogue sacrifice their normalcy so often but you never really "get" the sheer heroism involved like you do here with these kids having to give up their only chance at a normal life to save their friends.

BEST SINGLE PANEL OF THE WEEK

I can't stop gushing about DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE #3. Deadpool has been officially driven beyond insanity and into ultimate self-awareness. He has peeked through the gravel of the fourth wall and is NOT pleased with how editors and creators have been treating his fellow characters, so he's prepared to put the entire universe out of its misery. Plus, there's this scene:

WOLVERINE'S TRUE SUPER-POWER EXPLAINED

Cullen Bunn is writing the book on meta here (and that is indeed the uncredited skinned fur of one Dr Henry McCoy that Deadpool is sporting). The book is weekly, so there's a good chance you can still find all three issues at your retailer.

SECOND MOST AWESOME SKINNING-RELATED COSTUME OF THE MONTH

What can you really make of "Dac" from Kid Flash's first solo adventure in DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #12? She's belongs to a group of mutated "Dino-teens" but is clearly wearing the skinned head and wings of an actual pterodactyl. She's thankfully just cute enough to counteract the general creepiness of the concept. Fabian Nicieza is having a lot of fun here, most notably with Kid Flash's quirky inner monologue narrative. Could we get some more of this fun-ness in Ravagers and Legion Lost?

MIND THE SPOILERS:

DEATH OF THE ALPHA LANTERNS

Funky costume designs aside, the Alpha Lanterns (the Morrison-spawned I.A. of the Green Lantern Corps) had long outlived their story potential. How many times can you have them infuriatingly misuse and blindly misinterpret their authority before the entire Corps finally wises up to them? In GREEN LANTERN CORPS #12 their lantern hearts are finally snuffed for good after their failed attempt to pass the death penalty to, well, the entire GLC. Poor Boodikka. You deserved better.

OMINOUS

Oh, I do love a good Geoff Johns tease. GREEN LANTERN #12 makes some effort to tie all the GL books back together, but some of them still feel too extraneous at this point. The GL crossovers were consistently the best-planned and most entertaining of the DCU. Will the Third Army live up to them?

ALL-NEW ALL-DIFFERENT

The closing page of WONDER WOMAN #12 (after a momentous battle for the throne of Olympus and a new status quo for the gods AND the mountain) teases the return/introduction of Orion and the New Gods. If Cliff Chiang has managed to do such crazy imaginative things with the Olympians, just imagine the possibilities should he be let loose on Kirby's babies!

THE TALLY

DAREDEVIL #17 is a really tough act to beat this week. The Allreds are starting their Marvel comeback with a bang.

DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE has been going strong for three consecutive weeks though, mark my words, Cullen Bunn will be owning the Marvel Universe in less than two years time. The next Hickman in the making.

NEW MUTANTS and AVENGERS ACADEMY have been consistently amongst the best reads each week for the past year, yet they are in the first wave of the announced pre-Marvel NOW cancellations. I can't help but fear (sales be damned) that these books that have no business getting retooled (let's dump Journey into Mystery there too) are acceptable losses in the grander scheme of the relaunch.

Over at DC, both GREEN LANTERN books had a great showing, the KID FLASH solo story was more entertaining than anyone would have expected it to be, but WONDER WOMAN is still the uncontested stand-out. Maybe I'm just biased.

Finally, if you're feeling like treating yourself, do check out THE CREEP #0 and the first SAGA trade (which I hear will be going out at a crazy cheap price) collecting the first 6 issues.

–Oh and before I forget, as a bonus:

SENSELESS DEADPOOL KILL OF THE WEEK