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Last Week's Comics In Panels By Dr Manolis Vamvounis

This is what you missed last week in comics, from our good friend, Greek doctor, Manolis Vamvounis

In BATGIRL #7 veteran BOP writer Gail Simone finally reunites Babs with her gal pal Dinah Lance (Black Canary), and sees them spend some quality time catching up, sharing their troubles… and punching each others' teeth out?

It's a whole new definition of girly smack talk. I can see the thought behind it, girls letting out steam through sparring, Babs getting back her confidence etc, but… well, one, would they really be fighting bare-knuckled (or in this case, with enhanced strength bodysuits) and literally drawing out blood, and two, what with Babs being barely out of the chair, would she REALLY be able to hold her own against one of the world's most ass-kicking fighters (established previously by Simone herself as one of the driving arcs of her previous run on the girls)?

InSAGA #1, Brian K. Vaughan (in his much awaited return to comics) follows the controversial breast-feeding debacle of the first issue's cover with an actually disturbing umbilical cord chewing sequence.

Yep, it's a fairy soldier from a modern-day version of Middle Earth and a moon goat samurai having an illicit baby together in the middle of all-out war, with the actual delivery captured on-panel and with their two worlds on their tracks. The first issue didn't completely live up to its hype, but then few things could. BKV does a solid job of setting up his premise and setting, Fiona Staples wows with her character and world design, but there's a definitive lack of a trademark BKV first issue/last page twist. Perhaps he's simply matured out of the need for one of those.

The final issue of the bloody and gory fun Image series THE STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE (#6) sees the eponymous hero, the Kick-Ass version of Peter Parker by way of Charles Atlas mail-in coupon muscle method, and his nemesis finally get into a truly disgusting (=awesome) action sequence showdown, involving the use of entrails in new and imaginative (= even more violent) ways, with added pun-ache (pronounced "panache"). And then going that one revolting step further:

Robert Rodriguez, eat your guts out! The writer, Justin Jordan, was certainly not afraid to "go there", wherever that "there" could refer to, may it be extreme violence or profound tragedy in the ancient Greek way.

You thought the ending of DETECTIVE COMICS #1 was needlessly graphic and bloody, going beyond the confines of its cover rating? In SUICIDE SQUAD #7, the new and improved disturbed Harley Quinn goes one step beyond in a sequence that would feel overly sick and twisted even in a Garth Ennis Vertigo book (where we first saw a variation of it). Taking the famous Joker-face from DC#1, she applies it (blood still fresh) onto the captive Deadshot and proceeds to roleplay and make out with him while wearing it. Is this really the direction DC should be heading with one of their most recogniseable and kid-friendly characters?

Just as I was thinking how much the once rebellious and street-smart (and somewhat dim) Ultimate Ororo had come to mimic the regal older 616 version of the character, Spencer comes in, scissor in hands, and gives the stagnated character a much-needed attitude (and haircut) adjustment, in ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #9. I do wish the title would sit still and focus on a new reader-friendly cast of characters instead of maniacally jumping around from one estranged group to the next, in a constant continuity catch-up. The character moments are shining, but sadly lost in the endless shuffle.

In WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN #7, the battle for/in Kitty's alien monster-infested uterus (ouch) concludes in explosive fashion, and we get a long-awaited follow-up to "that kiss" from issue 2. Bobby and Kitty make a "huh, duh!" perfect couple, as a huge fan of both characters, I say it's about time someone did something interesting and daring with them again. Plus, this marks the first time any version of Kitty has ever been interested in a guy NOT named Peter, in any reality.

Aaron has been slyly fleshing out his new cast of characters, their relationships and the school angle of the X-Men in fresh and innovative ways, but I still fear he may be juggling too many balls at once. Thankfully, the satellite titles like Gage's X-Men Legacy are around to pick up some of the flack, characterisation-wise.

In UNCANNY X-MEN #8 Namor gets down to a different sort of smacking action with the hyper-evolved (and many breasted) underwater queen of Tabula Rasa. I can appreciate the subtle comments on sexuality that Kieron Gillen is trying to make here, but I bet he wasn't counting on Greg Land's oversexualised art taking things to inappropriate levels, especially in the later sequence between a smitten (?) young Hope and the King of Ab-lantis:

NO, just… no. Greg Land has come a way from his shameless porn-tracing antics of a few years back, but he still has the occasional inappropriate sex-slip that taints the entire story. How is Marvel not seeing the problem with keeping him working on their books? I suspect a large percentage of the readers are buying the books he's doing in spite of his art.

In X-MEN LEGACY #263 new writer Christos Gage has not wasted any time getting to the real meat of the X-Men's Schism and putting his team of characters into the most uncomfortable position possible: in a bind, outpowered against an all-powerful foe (the plot device-tastic marvel of the 90s, Exodus), and being forced to accept the help of Cyclops' team of teenage soldiers, "Generation Hope". The endangerment of teenagers, of course, being the very debate at the center of the Schism.

Gage continues Carey's proud tradition of utilizing continuity as a character tool rather than a handicap and references everything from the original X-Men run to the Kyle/Yost mutant bus massacre of Academy X to really go to that uncomfortable place where the actual Schism mini and oneshot was too shy to tread.

In Vertigo's newest ongoing by Paul Cornell and Ryan Kelly, SAUCER COUNTY #1, America's first female, divorced, Hispanic presidential candidate slowly comes to the realisation that she is the victim of an alien abduction. Also, lots of fun and quirky little green people sightings and the usual Cornell weirdness. It was great to see Cornell dial down the weirdness and let his characters breathe first before swamping the book in plot, but I'm concerned that he may not have provided enough first issue hook for the casual reader to come back for issue 2. Much like BKV books, these Vertigo #1 issues have set up a last page twist tradition that readers are now looking forward to before making their pull list choices.

In THIEF OF THIEVES #2, Robert Kirkman, Nick Spencer and Shawn Martinbrough present the most unorthodox wedding proposal yet, in the middle of a jewellery heist getaway, with the wedding ring as the actual loot. This new series has also taken the slow burn approach, taking the time to look at each of the different aspects of the protagonist's life, a master thief who decides to retire from the game when it may already be too late, while peppering each issue with interesting dialogue and fun sequences to keep the reader's appetite whetted.

Finally, inBUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON NINE #7 (soooo many #7s out this week), Buffy Summers loses an arm and… something else that may be too big a spoiler to give away right here. I will say it makes very little sense in the greater shape of things, and I do wish they had kept to the original, comfortably controversial, pregnancy angle, rather than this doubly-controversial (seeming) fake-out. The latest comics season has been very revealing and ground-breaking for Buffy's character post-television, and it's a series of developments I would rather not see swept away under the proverbial rug.

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