Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: crossed: badlands, deathmatch

Five Thoughts About Five Comics – Before Watchmen: Nite Owl, Hip Flask: Ouroborous, Crossed Badlands, Deathmatch and The Shadow Annual

Published Wed, 26 Dec 2012 11:00:15 -0600

Crossed: Badlands #20 by Simon Spurrier and Raulo Caceres reflects to the desire of Si Spurrier to explore some of the more interesting Crossed concepts as he has in Crossed: Wish You Were Here.

And this is a story of two star crossed lovers, both before the Crossed and after, when one of them has turned. Because, you know, everyone changes in relationships and any couple has to deal with that. You know it is doomed in destruction. But the form that destruction takes is less expected.

Violent relationships between men and women are all the rage it seems in comics today. Well, I suppose it is Boxing Day.

The Shadow Annual looks back to crimes of the Second World War and a man who has carried his experiences, especially that abusing women, to the present day. And a very different kind of abuse, and one The Shadow finds hard to detect…

Before Watchmen: Nite Owl continues being, basically, another Rorschach comic just with Nite Owl guest starring. And an exposition-filled antagonist who hasn't lrarned that you should have done it all thirty-five minutes ago. The comic continues that task that other Before Watchmen books have carried out, taking an object we saw in the original comic and giving it a deepermeaning in relationship to the character. Comedian's smiley face in Silk Spectre and now exactly what Rorschach does with his End Is Nigh sign. But again, we get rather a lot of prostitute killing.

Deathmatch (which I really hope is set in the same world as Supurbia) is a superhero Hunger Games when heroes and villains are turned on each other, even when they their actual relationship is a romantic one. This is violence withoiut the consent of either party. And when one of them is a bit of an animal.

Something that seems a lot troublesome for Mister Horn in Hip Flask: Oroborous. And yes, this is one of those comics that always gives you far more than you were expecting, high science fiction in th European style with chases, explosions, derring do and humanoid animals running around the place dressing as people. Even if they need bigger hats. Perfect Boxing Day fare…