Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: astonishing x-men, batwoman, crossed: badlands, daredevil, mars attacks, saga, Snarked, walking dead, wonder woman

Twelve Thoughts About Twelve Comics – Mars Attacks, Wonder Woman, Snarked, Crossed Badlands, Daredevil, Before Watchmen: Comedian, Batwoman, Saga, Astonishing X-Men, Walking Dead, Daredevil And Elephantman

A look through a bunch of this week's comics. There may be minor spoilers but I try to avoid anything too gratuitous, like saying that at the end of Walking Dead #99..

Sorry, too late. We're off! The new Mars Attacks has quite a fun storytelling structure, using the original Topps cards redrawn by John McCrea as frontispieces for each chapter of the story, playing up the contrasts between the contents of the card and the story that spins out of them. Neat. UPDATE: The cover appeared to me to be a large sticker placed on a plain black background, a kind of front page tip in piece. Instead it's a UV spot finish, as more commonly seen on a cover logo, this time spread out across the cover. My mistake.

Wonder Woman #10 is even more nuts that previous issues. A god wedding with a noose around the neck, a massive fight scene with god on god action, all wrapped up with a redefinition of who Wonder Woman is and how she sees the world. And weirdly, it's suddenly not inconsistent with how she's portrayed in Justice League. In fact it may enrich those stories remarkably.

Okay, I think I can get away with this panel. There are certain scenes in Saga #4 which it would be very hard to run on this site without he advertisers fleeing. Full frontal nudity all over the place and even, as Charlie Brooker would put it, "you can see it going in". Within the jolly debauchery, however, is a true horror. Meanwhile our two lovebirds explore their past and one of them, basically, calls the other fat. That honeymoon period didn't last long…

Elephantmen #40 is a beautiful mix of science fiction, action, war, politics and sex. Not quite as much sex as Saga #4, but lots of cupped breasts. And this time, it's between humans. So there's that. Still, there seems to be a lot of human/animal hybrids around this week…

Batwoman has been easing off the double page spreads. Initially an integral part of the layout of the book, they've been dominating less and less. Initially developed by JH Williams III and Alan Moore for Promethea. the idea of telling a story completely in double page spreads is a very strong print idea, especially for monthly floppy comics. However, when collected in big thick volumes, the middle often disappears into the gutter and in digital, the effect is often lost. But also, for both advertising and collections, it makes it harder to deal with this format. Promethea managed by nit having any adverts at all, Batwoman used to manage by having the odd single page. But that can also complicate collections and it appears the word has come down to ease off the double page spreads a little. So issue 10 has only three of them. However it is still committed to the individual page as a work of design, such as this page featuring the crew against Killer Croc. Note how the circles of the sewer tunnels is reflected in the bend, panels, orbiting the central figure of Cros, and also doubling up as a sight, considering the number of weapons being pointed at him. JH Williams III may not be drawing, but his sense of style is still very prevalent.

Daredevil continues to dazzle and surprise. In this issue, Daredevil's escape from capture as it's own special use of language with a heartbreaking finish, but what drew my eye was this scene, a flashback being interrupted by a phone call in mid speech bubble. It feels incredibly intuitive, but very rare to use the medium like this. Again, as in many issues, Mark Waid is developing and showing new tools he's using to tell stories and convey experiences uniquely using the comic book medium. It's a small addition but I think it's worth celebrating.

Crossed Badlands #8 is really nasty. And that's for Crossed. This is just one small sliver of that nastiness, when they encounter… a Crossed fat camp. And why are the kids still so fat? Exactly. Nasty nasty nasty.

Snarked #9 by Roger Langridge. Will you just look at that. Lovely, isn't it?

The Walking Dead #99 comes head to head with the contradictions inherent in these character's lives. The desire to live a normal live, even when all is being destroyed around you, and you can never keep still. It then gives you a cliffhanger that's  impossible to walk away from…

Well there's a thing. The original Watchmen suggested that Comedian may have murdered JFK – he was present in Dallas looking after Richard Nixon. The movie version showed it happening, shooting JFK from the grassy knoll. Before Watchmen: Comedian#1 shows us that, well, it couldn't have happened. Because the Comedian was elsewhere. Also, for some reason, Moloch is black now. Must be magic.

There have some who have criticised the marriage of Northstar and Kyle in Astonishing X-Men #51 , not because it's an affront against heterosexual decency, but that it's Northstar… getting married. I dunno, I'm quite happy with the idea, people's priorities change, their attitudes change as they get older. And as for this all happening rather fast… as the comic points out, Northstar is a speedster. This comic also does a fantastic job of showing exactly the kind of dangerous lives these people lead, and how snatching a moment of happiness, of safety, of security, of home, is what sometimes has to happen. For all that it's been hyped, it's a rather satisfying read… oh and Warbird, really?

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London, currently exhibiting the work of Dan Parent.

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