Two weeks together, since no one filled in for me last week. Green Lantern! Justice League! Justice Society! Awesome stuff! Buffy!
Really good haul this week.
Gold Digger #108: Let us be clear – I have a lot of affection for this comic and its creator, but one of the primary weaknesses of this book is that it literally has a cast of thousands at this point and the new “reader friendly” direction that #101 supposedly kicked off included adding still more characters!
All is forgiven with #108, though, because OMG, Fred Perry brought the cute and the squee. I was wibbling into a Kleenex by the end. You just can’t beat an orphaned baby dinosaur for sheer adorable.
Chew #2: Main character Tony Chu is a cibopath - he “sees” the history of everything he eats, from an orange’s harvest day to the abattoir his bacon was slaughtered in. He’s also a homicide detective living in a world where bird flu caused a Prohibition-era type ban on chicken and the FDA is more badass than the FBI ever dreamed of being. And his job requires that he occasional gnaws on the remains of a murder victim.
I am enjoying the hell out of this book. It’s dark, absurd, and hilarious without being ridiculous. Pick up a copy if you can find it; it deserves your money.
Greek Street #1: Greek tragedies replayed in the modern streets. This is Peter Milligan, so I knew tha 1) it was going to be odd and 2) I was not going to be bored. It was and I wasn’t, but I’m not sure that I was entirely sold on the book. In a lot of ways, it felt like I was playing “spot the mythology reference”. Still, the art’s solid, it’s one of Vertigo’s new low-intro-price books and more than worth the $1 cover price, and I do want to stick around and see how things turn out between Detective Dedalus and his boyfriend (I’m guessing badly; funny how tragedies tend to lean that way). I’ll keep with it until at least the end of the arc.
Tiffany and Charlotte - Second Semester #1: AKA Gold Digger: The Next Generation. Tiffany the half-werecheetah and Charlotte the canary-harpy unwittingly enter a high-powered kung-fu match thinking that it’s a ballet competition. Cute, but I’m still of the opinion that Anderson’s art can’t keep up with Fred Perry’s scripts.
Secret Six #11: My lone superhero title for the week. As much as I typically adore this book, this issue felt a little weak and hit roughly all the beats I was expecting in the order expected. Excellent art, good dialogue, and a well-paced story, but I wasn’t really engaged in the central conflict, namely the team’s in-fighting.
I’m horribly, horribly behind, and hardly know what’s come out when…
So some random comments on stuff that’s come out in the last few months…
JL - Cry for Justice: Robinson seriously can’t write Hal or Clark (though he gets better on Hal about halfway through the issue) and shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near either of the Atoms (though, ironically, he does better with Ryan than Ray)… He should only be allowed to handle new, obscure, or forgotten characters, or be forced to work with a co-writer, it appears (Starman and the current run of Superman are examples of doing well with the first 3 conditions, JSA and World of New Krypton, the last.). On the other hand, that didn’t save the Congorilla segment (I can’t believe I, of all people, am saying this, but was killing Freedom Beast really necessary? Killing the gorillas, yes. Trapping Bill in the gorilla body, yes… But Beast? That was just gratuitous). It also kind of kills the whole ‘cry for justice’ thing when half the members are out for specific revenge against people who hurt them, personally - the killers of Mikaal’s boyfriend, Congorilla’s troop, Freedom Beast, and Ray’s buddy - I fear who they’re going to kill to motivate Kate and Freddy to join, and dread yet more ‘you killed my father, prepare to die’ from Kara… (We’re just finally getting past that in Supergirl and New Krypton.)
Also, Hal, arguing with Clark, with Ollie, Diana, Red Tornado, Plastic Man, one of the Flashes, and the Hawks in the room, and using ‘how many of us have died’ as an argument for being pro-active was hilarious…I’m pretty sure it wasn’t meant to be.
Fables: I’ve only been reading Jack of Fables again since the crossover started (I dropped it during the Americana thing, not long after Book Burner was introduced)…so…can anyone give me some details on the Jack being Half-Literal thing? He’s the Page sisters’ half brother…got that. Has he been mentioned as the Literal personification of anything? Mary-Sues, perhaps?
Detective: Loving both the main and second feature. (I also love that they’re calling the backups ‘second features’). The new leader of the Religion of Crime appeals to me greatly, because (spoilered, because her reveal is awesome, and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who’s not read the book, yet, with my reasons, and commentary) Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass is my favourite book/pair of books, ever. Another Alice-based character is always good. I’m betting that Kate’s going to end up with either Queen of Hearts or Red Queen as a nickname. I’ll be sorely disappointed otherwise. I also love the bit between Kate and Dick concerning her hair, and the followup scene. Reference to TV Batgirl, or just making sense of the aesthetically awesome, but highly impractical costume…I can’t decide which is a more compelling idea.
I’ve also been behind on comic store visits, so this week got a lot of stuff I’d missed.
Brave & Bold, eh. While I like Static and Black Lightning, as a one-shot this didn’t have much oomph.
Superman, Supergirl, Action Annual - While I like the idea of World Without, the execution isn’t really living up to the premise. The whole Flamebird + Nightwing predestined lovers is just icky; he’s a little kid, still! Robinson has actually made Mon-El boring, and the round-the-world meeting obscure heroes was a bit cliche. Supergirl, at least, is moving in a direction, which is atypical for her title.
JSA reminded me more of “old school” JSA stories than more recent Johns ones, although I like both styles.
GL & GL Corps - happy that Blackest Night is here, if only to spare us further the dickishness of the Guardians. Seriously, we get it, they’ve OD’d on willpower. Move on, already. Also am guessing that Blackest Night will be confined mainly to Earth, since that seems to be where the four humans got shunted off to.
Batman & Robin really, really good characterization and plotting; the new villains are creepy and memorable, and a good tie-in to Dick’s past.