Then apparently she… did some stuff… with Lila Cheney. Who's a space rock star. Or something. I don't know, I've been off-grid a while – leave me alone.

So anyway…

Much like last years' Nova #10 acted as a "100^th Solo Appearance Special", issue #10 of Captain Marvel is combining the "100^th issue" anniversary special format with a two-part Christmas story that sees Carol Danvers, still in space, get some mail from back home on Earth, with different members of her plucky supporting cast taking it in turns to explain what's been happening while she's been away.

It turns out that Grace Valentine, a distaff Lex Luthor wannabe and self-appointed arch-nemesis of Captain Marvel who came into the comics pretty much when I did, has broken out of prison* and has been using mind-control devices to send a plague of rats to scare the bejeezus out of kid "sidekick-in-training" Kit and an extremely murophobic Spider-Woman, and when she's tracked down by Rhodey (the discontinuity regarding whether he's supposed to be War Machine or Iron Patriot continues to be a source of amusement) confronts Grace in person, only to get a bomb stuck on his back like a kick-me sign.

The story ends with the promise of Carol being home for the holidays, if only for 24 hours on the basis of there being "something" she has to check up on. Good thing Lila can instantly transport from place to place.

Something about Captain Marvel as a series seems to be geared neatly towards being exactly what it needs to be at any given time. When I came in the series had the good sense to tell that I had no idea who anyone was or why I should care, and so I not only got a nice neat wrap-up of everything so far, plus the promise of an interesting and dynamic villain, before reformatting Carol as the Avengers' ambassador to the ENTIRE F*CKING COSMOS! *deep breath* Sorry, but that's still pretty big. Plus, she has this whole will-they-won't-they thing with Rhodey, and the kid sidekick who somehow still manages to not annoy me.

And she lives in the Statue of Liberty! Just because AWESOMENESS!! Carol Danvers is the coolest fictional woman ever!

*sigh* I'm a fully grown man – I am going to be 28 in a month's time. How is it possible for this comic, any comic, to still induce fits of hyperactive joy in me?

Kelly Sue DeConnick has stewarded Colonel Danvers through some intriguing moments of character development over the past few years, and series regular artist David Lopez gets some welcome variance in style and tone for the flashback sequences from guest artists Marcio Takara and Laura Braga, whilst the cover by Lopez recalls the style of Ms. Marvel #1 by John Romita. In that first appearance as a superheroine, Carol not only had to deal with saving her new boss J. Jonah Jameson from the Scorpion, but also the glass ceiling that was still holding capable and driven young women back from wider recognition by the public.

That was in 1977. Marvel's Captain Marvel film adaptation, still uncast and awaiting a firm directorial commitment, is due out in July 2018 – rumours abound of a cameo much sooner. There's still a long way to go, but goddamn if that's not something promising to look forward to.

*Since I've missed a couple of issues I'm going to assume this either occurred without my prior knowledge in an issue I missed or else Kelly Sue has just straight up thrown the fact that she was in prison in there, because I remember distinctly that after her debut appearance Grace Valentine was still at large. Not a majorly big deal, but it's one of those little things that raises questions, such as how and when was she caught? And by whom? In only her second appearance, Grace Valentine is already more interesting to me than all of Marvel's other villains combined.

Lumberjanes #9 (Boom! Studios)

By Bart Bishop

With a daughter on the way, I often wonder how comic books will play into her life. I know that I want to read comics to her because their function is no different than a picture book, but then come the questions you don't consider when you're a young, single male. Are these age appropriate? Is the material positive material for young ladies? These are things that are unfortunately rare with this male-dominated, superhero-inundated medium so when something like Lumberjanes comes along I breathe a sigh of relief. Written by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis with the vignette bifurcated issue #9's art handled by a multitude of female artists, this is the kind of by-girls, for-girls comic that also dares to dally in a different kind of story, pre-teens at a summer camp, while experimenting with form and content to hilarious and vibrant results. Originally conceived as an 8-issue mini-series, this is thankfully the first issue cementing its status as an ongoing, and functions as an accessible stand-alone tale.

The premise is five Lumberjane scouts (Jo, April, Molly, Mal and Ripley) are at the Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types, and almost immediately encounter supernatural creatures and paranormal activity. Each issue centers on the five scouts of Roanoke cabin working to achieve a new badge, and this issue has the multi-age, multi-ethnic group working on their If You've Got It, Haunt It badge by telling scary stories around a campfire. Jen, the cabin's scout-leader, kicks things off, quickly demonstrating how seriously she takes her job by telling a relatively mundane story with a message about responsibility. As the issue progresses, each girl takes a turn attempting to one-up each other, with stories that not only reflect different sub-genres and time periods in horror history but also the unique personalities of each character through not just their distinct voices but drastically varied art styles.

Stevenson and Ellis have a voice, either combined or in concert, that reminds me very much of Chynna Clugston Flores, who coincidentally drew the cover of this issue. Flores, formerly Major, made a major impression on me back in high school with her high school-based series of mini-series Blue Monday. That comic had a similar throwback sense of innocence, paying homage to the John Hughes movies of the '80s with a dash of punk rock, and Lumberjanes harkens back to every summer camp movie with a thrown-together group of kids you've ever seen. The world is so much bigger when you're a kid and everything is more about feeling than logic, and Stevenson and Ellis tap into that here. Repeatedly the stories the girls tell chug along and peter out with little impact, but the reactions from the girls themselves are endearing and spot on. They're caught up in the moment and the basking glow of friendship, and that comes through clean and true here.

There's a plethora of artists, with Brittney Williams taking the brunt of the story with the framing narrative. She gives each of the girls distinctiveness, from their clothes to their hair to their features, but mostly their facial expressions. The context of the ghost stories makes for a lot of great exaggerated reactions, and Williams has a clearly Anime-inspired influence with chibi sweat marks and strafing action lines. That's very appropriate considering the origins of a comic like this can be traced back to how Anime, and Japanese culture in particular, has had such an impact on the young female demographic when it comes to niche culture. It's also great that they look their age, with not a hint of the male gaze or sexualization of these figures. They're simply young girls having fun together, being human beings and kids without the taint of ulterior motive or insidious exploitation.

The kind of comic I'd like to show my daughter someday, Lumberjanes is a fun and charming read for audiences of all ages and genders.

Editor and teacher by day, comic book enthusiast by night, Bart has a background in journalism and is not afraid to use it. His first loves were movies and comic books, and although he grew up a Marvel Zombie he's been known to read another company or two. Married and with a baby girl on the way, he sure hopes this whole writing thing makes him independently wealthy someday. Bart can be reached at bishop@mcwoodpub.com

Sandman Overture #4 (Vertigo, $3.99)

By Cat Taylor

It feels odd to review a series like Sandman Overture at its fourth issue. The Sandman character and series, as well as writer Neil Gaiman, have such a diehard audience and are so well known that surely anyone who is interested has discovered the new series by now, correct? That's obviously a rhetorical question. However, the main thing that made me decide that there is still something to be said about the return of Gaiman to a Sandman series is that, as legendary as they are, they're products of the 1990s. For those of you who may be mathematically challenged, that was around twenty years ago. So, it is entirely possible that there is a whole generation of comic book readers who haven't discovered the wonders of Gaiman's Sandman.

Despite my praise and love of Gaiman and his creation, I would completely understand if a new reader is having trouble getting hooked by this series so far. Gaiman is taking a lot of time building this story and the first four issues have largely been told through conversations among the characters. The conversations are wildly metaphysical and require a lot of patience, imagination, and intelligence to keep up with. Although, those of us who are seasoned Gaiman readers know that there is some pretty complex world-building going on that is going to pay off beyond expectations. Describing everything Gaiman has established so far would be an exercise in futility but there are elements from Greek mythology, a convergence of alternate realities, and a dimension that sits outside of time. Gaiman uses the trick of mixing up the order of some of the comic panels to show the "outside of time" aspect.

This trick is conveyed even more effectively by J.H. Williams III's art, where he not only mixes up some of the panels but does things like show Sandman's father randomly aging and youthening from panel to panel. Speaking of the art, Williams' designs, along with the colors by Dave Stewart, are wonders to behold. The mix of styles, dynamic colors, non-traditional layouts, and "out of this world" environments make for possibly the most fascinating comic book pages that I've ever seen. I could study each page for hours and never get bored. The visuals are truly groundbreaking and worth the cover price alone. It's rare for Gaiman's writing to be outshined by anyone's artwork, but Williams and Stewart steal the show in this issue.

I imagine that I am just one more voice hyping the return of Gaiman to Sandman, and hopefully due to voices from fans like myself, everyone who loves comics is already buying this series. If anyone isn't already picking this one up regularly then I encourage them to buy the trade paperback when it's finally released. Fair warning though, it may be a long time before this series gets collected in the trade format since there have been long delays between issues. Regardless, I feel extremely confident saying that it will be worth the wait.

Cat Taylor has been reading comics since the 1970s. Some of his favorite writers are Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Peter Bagge, and Kurt Busiek. Prior to writing about comics, Taylor performed in punk rock bands and on the outlaw professional wrestling circuit. During that time he also wrote for music and pro wrestling fanzines. In addition to writing about comics, Taylor tries to be funny by writing fast food fish sandwich reviews for Brophisticate.com. You can e-mail him at cizattaylor@hotmail.com. Hey, guess what? Chicken butt!

East of West: The World (Image, $3.99)

By Graig Kent

East of West is a tale set in both the future and an alternate universe, where the United States of America never quite formed, and territorial disputes continually raged. The series is also about the apocalypse, with the four horsemen just part of it's sprawling, epic cast. There's a lot of history between the characters (Death, for instance, killed his horsemen brethren a decade back, but now they've returned) which isn't always the easiest to follow, because of the level of detail to this alternate universe as well as the intensive roster of characters the story has to juggle. It's continually fascinating, with gorgeous, art from Nick Dragotta and lush colors from Frank Martin, every issue delivers something you've never seen before, but the bigger picture often feels intangible.

Now 16 issues deep, writer Jonathan Hickman throws his readers a bone with East of West:The World. Subtitled "Sourcebook/Atlas/Encyclopedia/Timelines/Apocrypha", The World provides exactly that which is needed, spelling out each of the seven factions that control terrain in America, who their leaders are, their strengths, their prosperity, all kinds of details. Beside each is a full page map showing their terrain with small annotations that help flesh out their realities (The Kingdom is very rich with oil, not just in their own terrain but offshore and in neighbouring terrains, while The Republic of Texas is on its last legs with most of its Ranger outposts destroyed and Endless Nations encroaching). The maps are fantastic visual constructs (I'm guessing they're all Hickman's design, but they're actually not credited to anyone) and the encyclopedic facts and figures are structured in an innately readable and understandable fashion.

Past the entries of these factions is "The History of America", a very Hickman-stylized timeline (if you've seen his early illustrated works like The Nightly News or Pax Romana, or even his regular covers for The Manhattan Projects, you can tell it's his hand at work) that begins in 1908 and runs through to the start of the series with the rebirth of the Horsemen. The timeline is less essential than the atlas and encyclopedia, but it helps contextualize much of what we know already along with deepening the understanding of how current events in the series came to be.

The book opens with a short story starring the three young resurrected horsemen. It's a quaint aside, not necessarily an integral one, but it does provide a fascinating moment (or four) for Conquest, intensifying his menace. Once again, Dragotta and Martin deliver a wonderfully unique experience, with odd-looking vehicles, a nasty looking bug, and showing us Conquest's preferred method of transportation. I love how distinct all of Dragotta's characters are, not just in personality, but physical mannerisms, costume, facial ticks… the man is a master illustrator, no doubt.

For readers of East of West, The World is essential. It's a rare work that deserves a compendium like this, but this series in short order has earned it. If I have any complaints it's that "The World" is really only America, and we don't see or know of the world outside of that (on the maps, Canada's just a blank slate North of the border, a border that still seems to be holding in this alternate reality). That said, perhaps The World, is not just a one-shot, but the first in a series. Here's hoping.

Graig Kent's first novel, Quarter City,can be read for free on Wattpad. Set in alternate universe, the story is framed around society's reactions to beings with super powers, focusing on the extreme actions of the city's most powerful Enhanced in particular. You might like it. Graig tweets stuff @thee_geekent and he does various other things in other places.

Django/Zorro #2 ($3.99, Dynamite/Vertigo)

By D.S. Randlett (@dsrandlett)

This is more like it.

Like fellow contributor, Graig Kent, I was beyond excited when Django/Zorro, a collaboration between Quentin Tarantino, Matt Wagner, and Esteve Polls was announced at Comic Con. I've had a similar relationship to Tarantino as Graig has had. I have never missed a Tarantino film in the theatre since I've been old enough to get into them unattended. Of course, combine that with the fact that I still haven't seen Winter Soldier and it seems that my comic book geek cred might be slipping. Regardless, I love the man's work, and I'm one of those odd ducks that likes his more recent weird looks at history through the lens of the Spaghetti Western genre more that his brilliant early work. So to say that I was a total mark for Django/Zorro is probably an understatement.

As I shared Graig's affinity for Tarantino's films, I shared his reserved reaction to the first issue of this series. I also shared his lack of familiarity with Zorro, but I found that a general awareness of him as Mexico's Robin Hood was enough to draw an adequate connection between these two characters. But the two characters are very different: Tarantino's Django character was born out of a love for not only westerns, but a hot rage toward the American institution of slavery and its legacy of racism. I'm not too familiar with Zorro's adventures, but I know enough about the character to know that he's attacking a class structure that's oppressing a very large number of indigenous Mexicans. In a way, both characters are very modern fictional constructs that serve as a means of projecting modern progressive consciousness into the past in the form of a lone hero who might right the wrongs that offend us so deeply and who might make our present a bit more enlightened for their efforts. So it only makes sense to cross these two properties over, and that had me as excited as Tarantino's involvement in the series.

Where the first issue was a very low key meet up between Django and Zorro, the second issue opens with a flourish that feels decidedly more brash. It's an extended flashback taking up most of the issue told from the point of view of the Archduke of Arizona's son, and it feels very Tarantino in the way that it at once feels like an aside to the main action, but also very much core to it. It's also a very well paced, written, and drawn scene, evoking the rhythms of a scene like the extended O-ren Ishii or Budd sequences from Kill Bill or the origin story of Hugo Stiglitz in Inglorious Basterds. While Django and Zorro are only on page together for two pages, the story that Tarantino, Wagner, and Polls tell here goes a long way in setting up what the stakes are for our heroes and who the villain is. In a Tarantino film, these scenes usually serve to humanize certain villains (like O-Ren), but here it has the effect of humanizing those around him. The Archduke of Arizona has left no small amount of damage in his wake, and the look that is given into his origins really expands the scope of this series.

Those looking for more interaction between the title characters will likely be disappointed, as they only get one brief scene together. The scene is a good one, though, it reinforces Zorro's stepping into the King Schultz role, but there's a difference. Where the Schultz character was enlightened but slightly amoral, Zorro is a straight up activist, and one gets the sense that as he glides toward his sunset he is intent on letting his fortune burn itself out on his way to performing one last great deed. Django and Zorro discuss the pros and cons of guns and swords, but underlying this is a conflict between different methods of activism, another thematic area that opens up in this issue.

So far this series is a slow burn, and waiting for the trade might be the sensible option here, but this second issue multiplies the story's possibilities in a way that can't really be understated. To paraphrase an awful human being: Django/Zorro had my curiosity, now it has my attention.

D.S. Randlett lives in the hills of Virginia and takes credit for the reviews that his emaciated twin brother writes while chained to the old radiator. He plays his guitar while biding his time for unsuspecting tourists and thinking about going to grad school.

FAREWELL TO 2014 FROM THE THOR'S COMIC REVIEW CREW!

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