SHORT REVIEWS (Wednesday 4/18/18)

BLACKHAMMER: AGE OF DOOM #1
This is the return of Jeff Lemire's super heroes stuck in purgatory book. The first volume (or season, or part...or take your pick) was 13 issues. But I guess, since Marvel and DC re-boot their books with new #1's every year, Dark Horse wanted in on the action so this isn't #14 (but it is!). Lemire also wrote two mini-series with the characters exploring their backstories during the hiatus. So it's back, and just as compelling and weird as it always was. The super heroes are a motley bunch. There's a tough guy and a woman stuck in a child's body and a witch and a senile scientist and a monster sort of creature. The big mystery is why are they stuck in a small town with no escape? Well, we've been waiting since the first issue to find out. Black Hammer's daughter appeared in the purgatory town in #13 but in this issue she's already disappeared to a sort of biker bar in Hell. It's weird, yes, but interesting. The art, by Dean Ormston, reminds me of Tales from the Crypt, which is a good thing as the book is sort of retro. **1/2

ACTION COMICS #1000
Jesus! 1,000 issues! Actually, shouldn't there be more? Didn't this start in the 30's? Unfortunately this isn't any sort of big issue culmination or anything, it's just lame, random stories. Scott Snyder and Tom King wrote bad tales here and there's a bunch of famous artists from yesteryear in it. The big deal is that this is the debut of Brian Bendis in DC. He wrote a 12 page story drawn by Jim Lee that sets up his run on both Superman titles this summer plus a weekly 6 part mini-series. Bendis' story isn't anything new. Superman fights some big bad and is stabbed while pedestrians around him joke about his red underwear. *

BATMAN #45
Writer Tom King has been hit or miss so far on this title. The previous Poison Ivy arc was bad but before that came a terrific issue featuring Batman, Catwoman, Superman, and Superman's wife, going to a carnival. I know. It sounds stupid but it was 2018's best issue thus far. King will always be known for the guy that had Batman marry Catwoman (this July 4th!), but this issue proves that when he goes strange he can knock it out of the park. Booster Gold is hilarious in this issue. He went back in time to save Bruce Wayne's parents and now, currently, the present is bonkers because of it. They also brought back superstar artist Tony Daniel on this arc. This feels like a great Alan Moore issue...which is a high compliment. ***1/2

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #799
I fucking love this cover. And Dan Slott's last story is actually a great one. The Green Goblin has merged with Carnage to become The Red Goblin. And the climax of this issue has Norman Osbourne's grandson also turned into a Carnage villain. That climax is silly and dumb, but the rest of the book is all action and tense and has a good build to #800 and Slott's swan song with this book. This is the best this book has been in a long time, although that isn't saying a lot as it's been just okay for years. Stuart Immonen did the art, which is a bit sloppy. ***

DAREDEVIL #600

Daredevil has always been one of my favorite Marvel books. It seems to be one of those B books that creators go wild with in strange, new directions. Ed Brubaker’s awesome run was probably ten years ago and yet I still think about it from time to time. Mark Waid and Chris Samnee tried a more lighthearted approach a few years ago that just didn’t do it for me. And I started reading Charles Soule’s current run but thought it sucked. I came back when he started his “Mayor Fisk” story and am glad I did. It’s not spectacular or anything, but the plot that builds up to this issue is a worthy story for the big #600. Soule added a new, Robin-esque sidekick to the book called Blindspot. Kind of silly that he’s named that since he ended up being blinded by the Bansky-like serial killer, Muse. In this issue, Blindspot faces the freshly escaped from prison Muse. The Kingpin is the mayor of New York and Matt Murdock is working for him as some sort of assistant. So of course The Hand shows up, shoots arrows into Fisk and sidelines him...leading to Murdock ending up being the next in line on the chain to take over as mayor. Pretty cool storyline to say the least. With art by the always great Ron Garvey, Daredevil is seemingly back where it belongs, as one of Marvel’s better, more interesting series. ***

OBLIVION SONG #1

I think most people thought by now that Robert Kirkman would have said goodbye to comic books and went full time Hollywood. After all, one would presume there's a lot more cash writing screenplays to big, dumb popcorn movies than writing low selling Image titles. But Invincible ended last month and he's out with a new monthly, Oblivion Song, so I guess he's here to stay (while still producing TV shows like The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Outcast, and the upcoming Invincible film). His last new comic book series to come out was Outcast way back in 2014, so a new book from Kirkman is a pretty big deal. And it's nice to know that Oblivion Song is great. The premise is a good one; a rift to another dimension filled with monsters opened up in Philadelphia and a bunch of people disappeared into it. One dude and his motley crew are the last people that, years later, are still venturing into the other dimension to find and bring back those lost since the government has given up on it. There's a huge twist at the end that might mean that this other dimension isn't all that evil...which is a killer last page to whet your appetite to read #2. The only problem with this book is that the art, by Lorenzo de Felici, is a bit on the sloppy side. That's his style, it's kinetic and rushed looking. The brilliant colors by Annalisa Leoni help immensely, however, so it's still a pretty cool looking book. This is definitely one to watch. Just...please, Kirkman, don't make another bad TV show based off of this. ***1/2 (out of ****)

AVENGERS #675 "NO SURRENDER" PART 1

Marvel is pretty much a mess these days. The Hulk (Bruce Banner) and Wolverine (Logan) are dead, and The Amazing Spider-Man flagship title and every X-Men book are mediocre. There are bright spots on the margins (like Ms. Marvel), but the big deal super-hero books should be the good ones, right? Even DC realizes that. Marvel is losing Bendis this year, and supposedly they're doing a shake-up this summer (Dan Slott is rumored to finally be leaving The Amazing Spider-Man). Things change of course and every lull eventually recedes. They're trying to pump new life into the flailing Avengers books this year (probably because a new Avengers film is coming out in May) by doing a 16 part, weekly epic starting this week titled "No Surrender." And while the plot so far is as fucking dull and by the numbers as can be, at least the art is super colorful and vibrant and pretty good. Pepe Larraz did the pencils and ink for this issue. I give major props to the colorist, though. David Curiel made this book look exceptional. As for the plot, three writers (Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub) co-wrote the whole epic. It's about earth suddenly disappearing and reappearing somewhere else and a bunch of natural disasters occurring. There's a villain left to be unveiled, and the climax has an old hero, Voyager, showing up (everyone seems to think this will turn out to be The Invisible Woman from The Fantastic Four). The book looks great but is an all action mess. It probably doesn't help that a) Captain America was evil last year, b) The Hulk is dead, and c) Thor's a chick now. That means this book tends to focus on lame, super-B heroes like The Wasp and Lightning (yawn). This book is 30 pages of art and $4.99. If a kid wanted to actually buy all 16 parts he'd have to, like, start stealing other kid's lunch money or start pimping himself out. Thanks, Marvel. *1/2

The BEST ART and BEST COMIC BOOK of 2017: BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT by Sean Murphy

 Sean Murphy has been quietly drawing some of the coolest looking books in recent years like The Wake (with Scott Snyder), Joe the Barbarian (with Grant Morrison), and Tokyo Ghost. But when he finally stepped up to the major leagues and put his spin on Batman, he finally achieved greatness. The simple idea behind Batman: White Knight is this: what if The Joker turned into the hero and Batman became the villain? And it's shockingly not silly but ingenious, compelling, interesting, and gorgeous to look at. Murphy is writing the book as well and it turns out that he's just as good at writing Batman as any of the other major writers of the past. The book has sold out and been extended. This proves it's already on the shelf with the great Batman books of history. And sure, I'm a sucker for anything Batman, but this is truly something unique and special. 

 

Best Writer of 2017: BRIAN K. VAUGHAN "Paper Girls" "Saga" "Barrier

As long as Brian K. Vaughan is writing comic books he'll probably be the best writer. He's like Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore were in decades past: pillars of the field, legendary. I will admit that Barrier, his weird web comic, was a beautifully drawn misfire (Marcos Martin did the pencils), but Paper Girls got weirder, funnier, and better than it's ever been this year and Saga continued to entertain in strange, amusing, and touching ways. Both Saga and Paper Girls are so totally fucked up in the best sense. They're light years from anything "normal" or safe and yet they're hugely satisfying and sheer page-turners. It was another banner year for Vaughan.

The Best Covers of 2017

Best Issue of 2017: THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA #7

The first issue of this series came out on October 8th, 2014. This issue, #7, came out on July 5th, 2017. So, yes, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the writer of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (and Afterlife with Archie) is probably the laziest writer on earth. I'm not entirely sure why the delay. Aguirre-Sacasa does write other stuff (he worked on the American Psycho musical a few years ago and is a producer of the TV show Riverdale), but how long does it take to write a comic book? Certainly not more than a day (unless you're Alan Moore, who stuffs his issues with tons of prose). I can't really complain, though, as Sabrina and Afterlife with Archie are two of the best comic books on the market. And this issue, #7, was stellar. It tells the history of Sabrina's father, Edward Spellman, who, at a young age, started conjuring spells and awakening demons and getting into all sorts of sadistic, fucked up shit. This book is dark, evil, compelling, creepy, and super engrossing. The art, by Robert Hack and Jack Morelli, gives it a vintage, Tales from the Crypt style. It's like finding a dusty old tome in an attack and opening it up and realizing you've just awoken an ancient evil.