Thursday, February 1, 2024

WOLVERINE #41

 


"Sabretooth War" Part 1

    I remember reading the first few issues of this series. Considering I stopped reading it, I'm guessing it wasn't very good. But #41 brings a new 10 part "Sabretooth War" storyline leading to #50. The cover also proclaims that it's "The Most Violent Wolverine Story Ever Told." Okay. I figured I'd check it out, since I've been pretty much oblivious to what's been going on in any of the X-Men books since I named House of X and Powers of X the best books of the year in 2019. Those books created a new island home base for the X-Men, Krakoa. That story, created by Jonathan Hickman, was compelling. Then he immediately left the books and I didn't care anymore. I've never really been the biggest X-Men fan. I remember enjoying the visuals of X-Men and X-Force in the early 90's when Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld were drawing them. And I enjoyed the series Brian Bendis wrote when he brought back the original X-Men thanks to time travel. Other than those few and far between storylines, there hasn't been much that caught my eye. Maybe it's just the fact that there's so many X books and they're constantly cycling through different writers and artists and new #1's that it's hard to even care anymore. Would it kill Marvel to just have a monthly Uncanny X-Men book with the same writer and artist for, say, a few years? Apparently. From what I can figure out reading Wolverine #41, everyone has left Krakoa and mutants are (sigh) yet again illegal or banned or something (which makes no sense considering in the other Marvel books they are, in fact, not). X-Force is living on the North Pole for no good reason (cool visuals I guess?). Sabretooth is now the leader of a group of other Sabretooths from different dimensions. Yawn. I can't possibly be the only one tired of the multi-dimension characters in everything, right? The last two Spider-Man movies (the live action and the animated one) dealt with the multiverse. The Flash movie also did. And constantly in the Spider-Man books these "other" Spider-Men show up. Fucking give it up already, the multiverse plot has been done to death. Jesus. So Sabretooth and his crew decide to attack Wolverine and the X-Force in the North Pole. The final page has Sabretooth and his gang hacking up body parts to spell out "Happy Birthday" for Wolverine to find. Is this the most violent Wolverine story ever? Maybe? I can't say I've read a ton of Wolverine issues. Marvel doesn't really do too much blood and guts. I wonder why they went this route. Probably just to see if the hook of being so violent would give them more sales. Benjamin Percy, who started writing this book with #1, co-wrote this with Victor LaValle. There's also two artists; Geoff Shaw and Cory Smith. The book is being published twice a month until #50, so I guess that's why there's two writers and two artists. One big problem is that neither artist is very good. The writing isn't very good, either. There's a reason why I haven't been reading too many Marvel or D.C. books lately, and it's mostly because the writing and art isn't very good. I'm not sure what happened...but it seems like talented writers and talented artists just aren't going into the comic book field anymore, or, at least, not working at Marvel or D.C. Maybe the pay isn't any good? Maybe it's because talented people would rather work independently than at the big two? I don't know...but this book is borderline awful. 1/2* 

Friday, January 5, 2024

The Best Pages & Panels of 2023



Daredevil #16




                                                           
                                                                     


                                            Saga #66





                                  Werewolf by Night #1






               Something is Killing the Children #34

 












Thursday, January 4, 2024

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

The Best Art of 2023: MARCOS MARTIN & MUNTSA VICENTE "FRIDAY"

                             




   I think back to the "glory" years of reading comics in my youth, back when the artists were king. All those great artists left Marvel to start Image Comics. McFarlane, Lee, Silvestri, Keown, Portacio, Larsen. Image Comics didn't exactly set the world on fire with the stories, but they sure looked dynamic and bigger than life. Are there just not any good artists left in the comic book world? It's just not lucrative enough? Going into advertising or storyboarding for Hollywood or something is a better career path? Or am I just old and harking back to when I was young and I thought comics were better? Who knows? I don't read everything, so I'm sure there are a bunch of fantastic comic book artists out there I don't know about. But thinking of any great artists at the big two, Marvel and D.C., left me completely blank. The best looking book I read all year, though, was hands down Friday from Panel Syndicate. It was published pay-what-you-want (i.e. free) online, and only 2 issues came out in 2023, but it was gorgeous to look at. Marcos Martin drew it and Muntsa Vicente colored it. It probably helped that it was written by 2023's Writer of the Year, Ed Brubaker, so it was nice to read and look at. The great thing about Marcos Martin's art is that he's skilled enough to change it to fit the story. When he drew The Public Eye for Panel Syndicate, it was set in the future and so it looked futuristic. Friday is set in a sort of old-school, film-noir small town with a kid detective...and it looks exactly like you would think an Encyclopedia Brown type of book should look. The gorgeous colors set the tone as well. The art in this book is just note-perfect.



Tuesday, January 2, 2024

The Best Writer of 2023: ED BRUBAKER

 

    Ed Brubaker only wrote two issues of Friday, the Night Fever hardcover, and the Where the Body Was hardcover. Maybe if he was a typical comic book writer churning out monthly books left and right his excellence would fade. That seems to be the case with a lot of good writers. Matthew Rosenberg's What's the Furthest Place From Here? is fantastic, but he writes a lot of forgettable books for Marvel and D.C. Probably my other favorite comic book writer, Brian K. Vaughan, only wrote six issues of Saga this year, and it's perhaps the best that book has been in years. But 2023 was another stellar year for Brubaker. Friday is excellent, a classic whodunnit with a kid detective that got super weird and super wild this year, with time travel and otherworldy beings. He branched out with his hardcover books this year, too, which was a plus. Night Fever was a weird, fever dream, crime book that held your interest 'till the last page. And Where the Body Was was my favorite book of the year, a totally engrossing, totally entertaining, totally enthralling puzzle piece of a book set in 80's suburbia. Brubaker has been one of the best comic book writers for years now, and 2023 was a highlight year for him. I can't wait to see what he does next.



Monday, January 1, 2024

The Best Comic Book of 2023: WHERE THE BODY WAS

 

    I was reading Where the Body Was, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' latest graphic novel, on my Ipad when the power went out a few weeks ago. Instead of getting up and checking on things or finding a light, I kept reading. I was so engrossed and entertained with the book that the power going out was a meaningless distraction. It was that good. Lately, Brubaker has dismissed putting out monthly comics. I suppose it's a financial decision (everyone these days seem to ominously foretell the death of the comic book store). While I miss his weekly books, the good thing is that we can read a mini-series in one chunk on it's release date, and his books are usually so good it's easy to read them in one sitting. And Where the Body Was is one of his best in recent years. The basic premise is that it follows a bunch of characters on a suburban street in the 1980's. Everyone gets their own story and every story ties into one another. The thing is...there are no weak links. Every story is great; from the cheating housewife to the kid playing superhero to the drug addicted twenty-somethings to the guy pretending to be a cop. Like most of his books, it plays with time and regret, but also features crime and violence. Sean Phillips and Jacob Phillips did the art, and as usual, the book looks fantastic. While this isn't a book featuring anything new or bold, it's just a great writer and artist working at the top of their game. 



Saturday, September 23, 2023

WONDER WOMAN #1

 

    Tom King hasn't written an ongoing comic since he was fired from Batman in 2019. He's still all over the place at DC, though he's mostly only been doing mini-series with obscure, B-characters. They did let him finish his Batman run with a Batman/Catwoman mini-series and he also did two other Bat books: a one-shot and another mini-series with The Riddler and a few other characters. I kind of figured they should let him write an ongoing Superman title, or maybe one of the other big DC titles like The Flash. Nope. They've given him Wonder Woman. Maybe they're still mad at him for his Batman run. I forget who even fired him. While I do like Tom King as a writer, I also admit that none of his recent mini-series have been any good. They're interesting but nothing more. And while this first issue of Wonder Woman is interesting and kind of bold, the big problem is that's it way too dark and depressing, which, realistically, is basically his calling card. Tom King books have never been fun, colorful romps. That's probably why the word "divisive" is always thrown around when talking about him. The basic premise so far of Wonder Woman is a Wonder Woman vs. The United States Government plot. It's kind of a Marvel's Civil War type of thing, but also obviously a mirror of today's real world Republicans vs. (take your pick) transgendered women, immigrants, LBGTQ. and woke politics. A woman from Wonder Woman's Amazon home kills a bunch of bikers in a pool hall and suddenly all of the Amazons are banned from the U.S. The news proclaims that it's a war against men. Wonder Woman is a wanted woman. We finally learn at the end that the new, big bad is an old guy called The Sovereign. The Sovereign sits on a throne and has a crown and also a lasso of lies. I guess this lasso of lies is supposed to represent all of the lies Trump and the Republicans have told over the years about pretty much everything. I remember Tom King posting videos on Twitter of him walking up to the Capital on January 6th, 2021, after he saw the melee on the news. He wasn't a part of the riot, just must live nearby and wanted to see what was going on. After reading this issue, I'm guessing he's a Democrat. Or, at least, anti-Trump. The artwork in this issue is tonally different than what it's about, though. The art, by Daniel Sampere, is very similar to Tony Daniel. It's big, pure Superhero comic book art. You'd think they'd be better off with something darker, because the big, colorful, superhero art doesn't mesh with the dark, brooding plot. The one good thing I'll say about this book is that it's something new and bold for a totally stale character. And I am curious where it'll go from here, which is a plus. Making the big bad an old geizer is kind of a dumb move, though, because you kind of want to have the inevitable fight between him and Wonder Woman...and what's he going to do? Jump in a robot suit to fight her? Supposedly this issue already sold out, so divisive or not, they're doing something right. **1/2