ABSOLUTE POWER #1

 

    DC's big summer event this year is Absolute Power. The basic premise is that Amanda Waller, the head of the Suicide Squad, decides to de-power all of Earth's superheroes. She's working with Failsafe, who I'm pretty sure was killed off in the last issue of Batman, and Queen Braniac, a new villainess. Why is Amanda Waller doing this? Who knows? She hates superheroes, I guess. Marvel did pretty much the same thing in the House of M event years ago. The Marvel superheroes all lost their powers. I never read that, so I'm not entirely sure how similar it is. DC did a good thing with putting the World's Finest team on Absolute Power. Writer Mark Wait and artist Dan Mora are definitely two of the better creative teams working at DC. All the critics and fans seem to always say that World's Finest is DC's best superhero book. World's Finest is basically Batman and Superman together. World's Finest is good, but nothing spectacular or anything. And I guess it won't be coming out anytime soon. That, or maybe they're putting a different writer and artist on it. Absolute Power is only 4 issues, which is good. They don't even have a checklist in the book showing all of the tie-ins. That probably means there are like a thousand. In this first issue, Superman attempts to stop a bank robbery and is shot because he doesn't realize he's lost his powers. The way they de-powered all the heroes is by using some villain robot guy named Amazo. Must be a retro villain or something, because I've never heard of him. They also mention in the book that all of the superheroes' powers are never coming back. Yeah, sure. Like in a year, Superman won't have powers. Good luck getting anyone to read that book. While the art is really good and the colors by Alejandro Sanchez are dynamic, the story is actually kind of dull. I don't usually enjoy these big event books and reading this #1 issue just reinforces that. There's always just too much going on and you know nothing is actually going to change in the long term, so what's the point? Be entertained? I think the plot is actually too dark and depressing for entertainment purposes, actually. Eh, maybe #2 will be better. *1/2

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #50

  

   After reading the latest The Amazing Spider-Man #50, I was curious how many #50's there have been. The first one was published in October 1967. In that issue, Peter Parker quits being Spider-Man and throws out his costume but remembers he's fighting for Uncle Ben and resumes being the hero. Stan Lee and John Romita did that issue. The Kingpin makes his debut in that issue as well. The next #50 was in February 2003. Straczynski and John Romita, Jr. did that issue. The last one, during Nick Spencer's run, was published on October 14th, 2020. So this is only the 4th #50. There were a few re-boots that never even made it to #50, though. The first re-boot and new #1 was in January 2003, when Dan Slott was writing the book. Then April 2014 there was a new #1. Then in October 2015 there was another re-boot and #1. Then July 2018 had another re-boot and #1. And then we get to the current Zeb Wells run, which started in April 2022 with a new #1. So there's been 6 re-boots and 6 #1's. Hard to make sense of all this ridiculousness. It's pretty crazy that there was a #1 in 2014 and then another #1 in 2015. And when Zeb Wells leaves, in a year or so, there'll surely be another #1. I guess I was curious about all of this because in this new #50 issue, Norman Osbourne as The Green Goblin fights Peter Parker as Spider-Man. If you remember, this is a feud started in the 1960's, culminating in Spider-Man killing Norman Osbourne/The Green Goblin. That happened in May 1973. They actually kept Norman Osbourne dead for 23 years. So much for that! It's June 2024...so Norman Osbourne/The Green Goblin was killed off 50 years ago. 50 fucking years ago! You gotta kind of wonder why they have no new ideas anymore. I suppose Marvel's excuse is that Norman as The Goblin was great back then; a cool character, a fan favorite...and kids reading comic books now weren't reading them in the 60's and early 70's. Why not show them what they were missing? Eh. I can't even think of any new, cool villains they've created for Spider-Man since Venom...and that was in 1988. What the hell are these writers doing, anyway? Nick Spencer attempted to create a new villain with Kindred. I guess he was at least trying. Zeb Wells hasn't created anyone. Wells has used Tombstone a lot for whatever reason. And #51 has The Sinister 6 on the cover. It does seem like the writers have very limited leeway at writing this book. It seemed like Spencer was attempting to get MJ and Pete back together, but that never happened, probably because the editors and bosses have the final say. Spider-Man is such a great character that it's really a shame the book feels like it can't be fresh, exciting, bold, or new. It just constantly feels stale, like it's running in place constantly. The big, new idea in this new #50 is that Norman gives Parker the Goblin serum, turning him into Spider-Goblin...or whatever the heck they're going to call him. They seem to do that a lot in the Batman books with the Joker serum, too, don't they? I wonder who was first with that? I will admit that this issue was a lot more entertaining than the last dozen or so issues Zeb Wells has written. Last Fall they had a big crime epic where a bunch of crime families were battling for control of NYC. That was a total bore. And the last couple of issues were totally forgettable and weird. So Goblin vs. Spider-Man is back to basics. And they got Ed McGuniess to draw the pretty cool cover and main story, which is a giant plus. There's a few terrible back-ups I skimmed through. I guess I can't really complain about The Green Goblin still being around after dying 50 years ago...because it's pretty hard to mess up a comic book involving The Green Goblin battling Spider-Man. I wish this book was better, though, and I really am starting to wonder if it'll ever be really good ever again. **1/2

BLOOD HUNT #1

     Blood Hunt is Marvel's big event book this year. It's basically if vampires took over the world. The last page reveal in #1 has the leader of the vampires being Blade. Is that supposed to be a shock? Does Marvel even publish a Blade comic book these days? These event books, both for DC and Marvel, have been really awful and really forgettable for a very long time. I'm thinking maybe Marvel's Civil War event was the last time an event book was kind of a big deal. Or, at least, people remember it. How long ago was that? Twenty years ago? It was 2006. I don't even remember what Marvel's event book was last year. I remember DC's event. Knight Terrors. Was it really spelled with a "K"? That's stupid. It probably wasn't. That event was just stupid. I suppose vampires taking over the world is kind of interesting. It does feel like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel with that plot, though. Jed MacKay is writing this and Pepe Larraz is penciling it. The art is average stuff, though way too dark. I guess that's the point because it's horror but it's still hard to make out what's going on. The book opens with the vampire assault already happening. There's no set-up whatsoever. There's also a group of super villain vampires that look like a cosplay group doing Hellraiser villains. That gang reminded me of that one event book that DC and Geoff Johns did that had an alternate version of the DC superheroes from some other universe wreaking havoc. Or maybe it was the villains from Scott Snyder's Metal series. All these dumb events blur together. But this super group take out The Avengers. They stab Thor with a stake through his head. So he's dead and will be gone forever, right? Also Blade stake's Dr. Strange through the heart. So he's gone from Marvel forever, right? The one thing I hated about this first issue and what I tend to hate about most current comic books is that there's very few words in them. I read this book in like 2 minutes. It's $5.99. Would it kill them to, like, put some fucking words in it? Are these writers just lazy? Or is just the times we live in? Everyone only watches short clips on their phones, everyone has a short attention span. Still, I'd rather read something with substance. The key question is: is this book good enough for me to care about the story enough to want to read #2? Or the hundreds of spin-offs? Eh, not really. *1/2

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* 

The Best Pages & Panels of 2023

Daredevil #16

                                                           

                                                                     

                                            Saga #66

                                  Werewolf by Night #1

               Something is Killing the Children #34

 

The Best Covers of 2023

 

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.

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.

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.