Avengers #6

Oh, fuck my cock! John Romita, Jr., has demolished me word by word since his first issue on Avengers. He's drawing some cosmically good stuff month after month - he's got that delightful blend of old and new, that comforting touch of classic iconography enhanced by a kind of infectious, ballistic exuberance. Outstanding!

Also Bendis writes some words. I forget most of them.

Hulk: Gray

Tim Sale's art is the real reason to buy this book. I adore most collaborations between Sale and writer Jeph Loeb, particularly when they touch Batman, but Loeb's script doesn't really shake the earth for me. I don't care for Bruce Banner's late night confessional with Doc Samson, but that's mostly a background narrative engine. Bruce's emotional realization - that Betty may love him for all the wrong reasons - is pretty meh. I do like the inclusion of Iron Man, but otherwise this is straightforward origin retelling.

But Tim Sale could draw poo and I would buy it. The sort of deranged Gothic look for the Hulk is totally Mary Shelley and totally perfect. Sale manages a real depth of emotion in his panel layouts and figure poses, and conjures a gray concoction part Quasimodo, part man-beast Vincent, and part Lennie. Read the words, remember the pictures.

HA Secret Avengers #1

Brubaker writes some pretty badass black ops Avengers. The team's mission statement isn't anything terribly original ("...Stealth tactics and preemptive intervention. We go where we're needed and perform surgical strikes"), but the script makes it work well. Brubaker's got Steve Rogers at the helm, with War Machine, Black Widow, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Ant-Man, Beast, Sharon Carter, and Nova rounding out the team in this first issue. Steve handpicked the crew based on each individual's unique skill set, and I like the dynamic between characters I wouldn't picture normally working together.

So Valkyrie, Black Widow, and Steve nab a Serpent Crown (or a distant cousin thereof) from a skeevy Roxxon suit, and it turns out the artifact was mined from Mars. Nova investigates but isn't exactly welcome on the red planet. And Nick Fury knocks out Sharon Carter because he's the leader of the Shadow Council and they want their artifact back? Right? Wild.

Choker #3

So I kinda lost track of what's going on in Choker. I mean we're 3 issues into a 6-issue series, but I'm foggy on the specifics. Doesn't particularly bother me, though, since Ben M. and Ben T. produce some wicked writing and art. We get some more info about Jackson's history with Man Plus & where the name "Choker" comes from. Another grisly homicide. And those crazy cracked out vampires. Fucked if I know. But I'll be back for 4, 5, and 6.

Oh and there are some cool photos in the back of the creators getting tattoos at Atomic Comics. The Bens seems like cool dudes.

The Other Side of Avengers #1

Comic Book Resources and Comics Should Be Good! each have reviews up for Avengers #1, the script of which I enjoyed, the art not so much. Chad Nevett writes about the issue for CBR here, and Brian Cronin posts on his blog here. I wish I had the same appreciation for JRJR's work on this one!

HA Avengers #1

Putting John Romita, Jr. on pencils here totally fucking baffles me. I think I remember reading that Marvel was going for an artist with a sort of generational appeal, someone who's been around awhile but who still seems contemporary and new. That makes sense to me, since the Heroic Age promises to be a fresh take on Silver Age classics, the return of Cap, Thor, Iron Man, and the Avengers. I guess in theory Romita, Jr. fits that bill - he's a legacy artist, the son of a legend, and he's had his hand in Marvel classics old and new.

But this is ugly.

Lest I seem a complete asshole, I'll go for constructive criticism. And I'm not talking JRJR in general here, I'm talking JRJR on this Avengers book. His linework is blocky, angular, and generally unappealing. His faces appear universally mousy, and he has a distracting & overworked method for defining cheekbones. His character proportions are inconsistent from page to page and panel to panel, and his heroes all share peculiar and unsettling doll-like expressions, like they were hurriedly hewn from wood. I do love Kang's entrance splash page and the following spread of Thor pouring it on with Mjolnir, that's some dynamic work. But it's not enough to carry the book.

I mean by and large I don't have anything against Romita, Jr. And on paper, sure, this might make sense. But when you look at the finished product, it's just plain off. I don't think this is the kind of work that has any real mass appeal - and I feel awful writing that, because I shouldn't give a fuck about mass appeal - but these are the Avengers, and this is the Heroic Age, and while this line is being marketed as a new and more optimistic direction for the Marvel Universe, it also purports to be the return of our classic heroes. These heroes don't look heroic. And I don't think that all classic heroes should have to look the same all the time. I can't emphasize that enough, I'm not looking for derivative & manufactured art. I loves me some nuance, some personal style. But the Heroic Age merits something more pure than this. JRJR's work here is stylized to the point of distraction.

Such great distraction, in fact, that it overwhelms a pretty decent script by Bendis. Good pace, nice team-building and personal conflicts, cool cliffhanger. Bendis' Spidey is a little too quippy for me (here and elsewhere) - it'd be nice if he said something substantive once in a while. And, for a book that's supposed to be launching a new line, the new reader would have absolutely no fucking idea what's going on without several years of background story, or at least one of those nifty recap pages featured at the beginning of most Marvel books these days.

Check out the two pages penciled by Art Adams and Jack Kirby in the back. When I first read about the Heroic Age concept, that's kind of what I had in mind. They each showcase the distinct personal style of their pencillers, but they also look righteously heroic. The rest of this comic, not so much.

Free Comic Book Day: Owly and Friends

Dude I think Owly is too tough for me. I mean he/she is fucking adorable so I want to love him/her, but I swear I had to read this short twice before I could figure out exactly what happened. Which is pathetic, because it's a wordless comic meant for kids, but there it is. To be fair, it did make perfect sense the second time around, but that first reading was ugly. For a comic that relies entirely on pictures to convey the story, Runton's thick and chunky inks and dense panels are a little much for my meager mind. Still fucking adorable though.








Owly's friends are more my speed. Kochalka's Johnny Boo is just delightful, kind of a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Tiny Titans. In this one, Johnny introduces Squiggle to yawn power, his new technique for producing the most boring of boring adventures, only Squiggle gets in way over his head. It's cute and fluffy and ridiculous, but it's got a little bite to it: "Oh, Squiggle! You're so funny when you say stupid stuff!" Words hurt, Johnny.

Ann and Christian Slade's Korgi short is my favorite, though. It's another wordless comic, but the thin & delicate line work is just staggeringly good, really emotive. Sprout the korgi passes out after a pie binge, only to be haunted by hungry muffins, angry waves, and other unnatural forces of nature. Sprout wakes up safe & spots an unguarded plate of cookies. You think the little fucker learned his lesson? Cutest thing ever.

Silver Surfer: Judgment Day

This is the most gorgeously illustrated thing I have ever seen. John Buscema, with Max Scheele on colors, cranks out 64 full page panels, each one a cosmically hallucinatory piece of perfection (Well to be fair, page 28 is broken down into 3 panels). I've never seen anything like it. And I just read "The Coming of Galactus." Even Kirby can't match this.












I found "Judgment Day" during a FCBG splooge-fest at the comic shop - it's an 8 1/4" x 11" hardcover from 1988 with a righteous Joe Jusko cover painting, so it kinda stands out. Looks like there's a more recent TPB version, but this is the original edition. Pfff!

It sports an obnoxious introduction by Stan Lee, who handles the script as plotted by Buscema and Tom DeFalco. I could do without Lee's writing on this one - he actually shows a remarkable amount of restraint, but he just can't let the artist do the talking, and Buscema is the real attraction.

I mean the script is still cool. We get Silver Surfer's existential musings, Mephisto's brimstone histrionics, Galactus' "unfeeling force elemental." And Nova's general hotness. That voluptuous space harlot sets up a battle for the Surfer's soul, and the showdown between Mephisto and Galactus culminates in fucking wild spread on pages 58 and 59.

"Judgment Day" is another reminder of the emotional complexity of Galactus and his former herald. They have a really interesting relationship, and Stan does a nice job here. I mean everyone knows that Norrin Radd is the intergalactic exile, the once sterile instrument of Galactus awakened by the emotions of Earthlings. I guess I tend to see Galactus more as an insatiable force than a sentient character, but Stan gives him more depth.

He is emotionless, apparently, and driven only by an undefinable mission to feed on planetary energy. But for an emotionless guy, he's fucking moody and protective of his property.

He admits not knowing whether or not he actually has a soul. He responds to the Surfer's plea to end interstellar destruction and offers his former herald a momentary sense of gratitude. Galactus balks at the mention of friendship, but there's a sense that his purpose and solitude are self-imposed, or at least a source of some doubt or regret: "I could not do what I do, I could not be what I am, if, like humans, I were subject to emotions unbridled. No! I am Galactus! I cannot be more! I dare not be less!" The devourer of worlds is kinda vulnerable.


Still, the art is supreme. 64 utterly dazzling & unparalleled spacescapes. John Buscema died in 2002. Dude wielded the Power Cosmic.

Silver Surfer: The Coming of Galactus

As much as I revere classic superhero stories, particularly ones from Marvel, I tend to avoid reading or re-reading them as I get older. If I have fond & sappy memories of discovering a Golden or Silver Age book when I was I kid, it's generally better that I leave them alone now.

You know, 'cause they might actually suck. I mean not the memories, the comics. And finding out that your childhood & consequently your adultish personality is based on something that sucks, well that sucks even more.

But today I saw "The Coming of Galactus" for 5 bucks and I bought it and it rocked my fucking socks off. I actually don't remember if I'd ever read the Fantastic Four #48-50 as a kid (seems like something that would be blasted into my pre-pubscent brain, so I'm thinking I hadn't), but reading it now was delightful.

Lee scripts, Kirby pencils, Sinnott inks, Roussos colors. Straight-foward stuff, world-devouring Galactus needs energy and isn't too discriminating about where he gets it, herald Silver Surfer lands him Earth, Fantastic Four plus Watcher defend. The story's a classic, so even if you haven't read it, you know what happens. What I didn't know, though, was that Galactus sort of has a conscience. He expresses both regret and affection. Like the Watcher says, he's really neither good nor evil. He's just really fucking hungry all the time.

It's hard to criticize Stan Lee for overwriting his scripts, but Stan Lee overwrites his scripts. That's nothing new, but it's generally what kills the classics for me. His imagination and stories are above and beyond just about anything you'll find anywhere else, he just needed to cut down his word count. Small complaint, righteous story.

Kirby's art is cosmically mind-boggling. I'll take most Silver Age art over anything that sees print today, but reading this book reminds me why Kirby's influence is so universal. I don't have the technical acumen to properly describe comic book art, but I think most current mainstream stuff is just overwrought, crowded, muddled, and forgettable. Looking at something like Blackest Night over at DC, I recognize the amazing talent of someone like Ivan Reis, but after all the inking and coloring is done, the impact is lost on me (and maybe I wouldn't appreciate just the straight pencils if I had seen them, I dunno). Right here, with Kirby and Sinnott and Roussos, everything just pops off the page. The coloring is basic and the backgrounds are simple. There's a cleanness to each page that my eyes adore. It's like every panel is iconic.

So a great read for 5 bucks & it makes me appreciate Hickman and Eaglesham's work on the current Fantastic Four even more. They nail the spirit & dynamism of Lee and Kirby, and they make it feel new. Big shoes to fill, but they step strongly into the cosmos.

News! "Superman back on top as Action Comics #1 sells for record $1.5 million"

I mean I guess Supes deserves the top spot, really. Although I bet Bruce cracks a couple of skulls extra tonight.

The Associated Press provides the initial report with some additional bits at Robot 6 & lehighvalleylive.com.

Conan the Cimmerian #19

Linsner's cover kills. The blood-red coloring & heads on a stick are pretty hallucinatory. And Conan has a way cool shield. And the book only gets better. Giorello's art with Villarrubia's colors make the cover price worth your while. Especially when you get to the nudey pages. Boobies!

Truman's script kicks off the three-part "Kozaki" arc here, and he begins to fill in some of the story gaps from "Free Companions." Conan's starved & suffering from some nasty food poisoning delirium - uncooked rats! - when he runs into the ghost of Amalric, former captain of the Companions. Being dead probably pisses him off enough as it is, but finding out that his army has disintegrated under Conan's command kind of pushes Amalric over the edge. So Conan tells him a tale.

Conan's flashback runs the bulk of the issue. It's a good one. The Companions head East, raiding Turan territory as they go, until they are spied by Sergius, "Scourge of the Vilayet and the master of the Red Brotherhood," who has of course has unfinished business with Conan. Meanwhile, further east in Akif, naughty Amurath, "favored Shah of King Yildiz," works his deviant charm on buxom Olivia, the captured daughter of Ophir's king. She's hot. Amurath notices. Bad Shah!

Sweet Tooth #7

I think I'm actually more interested in Jepperd's past than I am in Gus' future. And I'm way curious to see what the fuck happens to Gus. The reveal on the last page isn't a total shock, but it works, and it definitely makes shit more interesting. Also Gus is about to get ravaged by the nefarious Dr. Singh. Tray of cutting tools gets me every time.

Art-wise, this is Lemire's strongest issue yet. The emotional subtlety of his close-ups, the haunted washed-out landscapes, the gutshot splash pages - all awesome. And that pig-boy is fucking creepy.

Jonah Hex #53

Surprisingly violent issue. I mean, Jonah Hex isn't exactly hugs & kisses every other month, but this one stands out. I'm not complaining, just saying. Lots of carnage.

Billy Tucci steps in on art, and he draws a mean fucking death-by-gunshot. Many, many times over. His Hex is different, more Two-Face than I'm used to. His is not the generally grizzled & bloodshot Hex whose scar is quite fitting considering the rest of him, but rather a half pretty-boy, a Bat Lash on the left & a Freddy Krueger on the right. I like it.

Palmiotti & Gray just keep banging out righteous Western slaughter. "Dance Hall Girl" isn't one of their best efforts, but it's still head & spurs over most anything else on the stands. Hex charms a bodacious dancer into helping him snag the Hager Brothers, and about seventeen double-crosses later, you've got buckets of blood and a crippled whore. Unforgiving & hellishly raw. Get some.

News! "New Jeff Lemire project: The Underwater Welder"

Well this looks just delightful (first noticed the story on Robot 6). Sweet Tooth rocks, still have to check out Jeff Lemire's older stuff.

News! "Batman comic book beats Superman at auction, sets record"

Eat it, Boy Scout!

"Just three days after auction site ComicConnect.com claimed to break world records when it sold an original Superman comic for $1 million, Batman stole his thunder.

A rare, high-quality copy of Detective Comics #27, which marked the first appearance of Batman in 1939, sold for $1,075,500 on Thursday. Heritage Auctions of Dallas sold the comic book to an unnamed bidder on behalf of an anonymous collector."

News! "It's a bird, it's a plane ... it's a $1 million comic book"

Missed this the first time around.

"Zurzolo and Fishler posted a rare copy of Action Comics #1 on their site Monday morning. It was the issue where the Man of Steel made his debut in 1938. They were selling it on behalf of an unnamed collector. Within one minute, Zurzolo said, another unnamed collector bought it for $1 million."

Choker #1

Very glad I picked this one up, last minute grab before I checked out. I was initially attracted by Ben Templesmith's name. I like his sketchy, jilted pencils and murky, dark, moody finishes. He doesn't disappoint here. Nice touch with the "How It's Done" art tour at the end.

But the real surprise is McCool's writing. You know, the fact that it's good. I don't mean that to sound uppity - I love comics, superhero & otherwise, but even some of my favorite writers tend to have a tin ear. McCool has a natural rhythmic and alliterative flow that makes for immersive reading & perfectly complements Templesmith's art (compare the writing here with this month's Blackest Night #7 - I spend so much time trying to make the stilted dialogue sound right in my head, I'm totally taken out of the book).

The story itself is familiar. Johnny Jackson seems like your typical (former) bull cop, now scraping by as a sleazy PI in a shitbox city. But he's just so fucking charming: "No, thank you, Ms. Gaynor. I'd rather fuck a faulty toaster." Righteous. McCool adds a nice twist to the premise, what with all the mutant citizens and genetically enhanced "Man Plus" monster cops. And the vampires. Weee! I'm totally along for the ride. Shotgun!

Joe the Barbarian #2

Joe the Barbarian does not read well as individual issues. The same could be said for a lot of what Grant Morrison writes. I don't know if that's a criticism or not. Every time I want to be snarky about Morrison, I remember how fucking awesome he can be. Everyone's got their favorites of his; I like Seaguy, Doom Patrol, and We3. Two issues in, I don't like Joe the Barbarian. After eight, chances are I will.

Sean Murphy continues to draw his balls off. Some of his panels are honestly kind of muddled and confusing, but that totally suits the writing, intentional or not. Overall, though, the art is the book's strongest point so far.

As for plot, more of the same. There's nothing terribly interesting or original yet to dissect. We can assume that Joe is suffering through fantastical hypoglycemic hallucinations & his rodent pal Jack here serves as quasi-guide through the abyss. Lots of straws to grasp at, nothing satisfying yet.

I don't like this kind of book. If I'm going to like Joe the Barbarian at all, it probably won't happen until the entire series is done and I can read it through as one story. In the mean time, it's a book that I'll probably drop money on every month & kind of regret it. I should wait for the trade! But I won't!

Supergirl #50

I like this issue. Not because it's any good because, by god, it's not. I like it because it lets me know it's okay. It's okay not to buy every comic that has a number in a red shield on the cover. I probably won't miss too much. It's okay to not buy every comic with "Super" in the title. They're probably not all necessary anyway. It's okay to not buy Supergirl because she is, after all, just a girl. Okay so that's not right.

I actually do like Supergirl, and I've liked the last several issues of the title. Just not this one. Cliff Chiang draws awesome, though, and I'd love to see him on regular cover/interior art duties. Everything else here feels a little disjointed and uneventful. Which is weird, because flipping through again, I see lots of explosive & gory events. Oh well, flat to me. The Superfamily space saga has been going on so long now, individual issues don't really stand out to me. This one doesn't. But it's okay!

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14

Wow, this is a surprisingly dark issue for a Johnny DC all-ages book. Still righteous, but dark nonetheless. It's Valentine's Day and Batman & Huntress are tailing a maniacal Mr. Camera, who is actually pretty creepy in a demented paparazzo stalker kind of way. Huntress is distracted, and we follow Bats in assuming it's due to her unrequited V-Day love ("Gotham City is my mistress. Fighting crime is my romance." So perfect).

Really, it's her birthday. And he forgot. He's not a very good friend. And he fucked up the case - Mr. Camera isn't after the Gotham Film Preservation Institute after all! He's after the poony lovin'! Huntress' poony lovin'! Batman, you fool!

So it's an action-packed issue, wonderfully written by Walker & delightfully drawn by Jones (great colors by Heroic Age). And it's creepy. Just like Valentine's Day! So perfect.

Tiny Titans #25

Noooo! Stay away, Geoff Johns! Don't do it! Oh, fuck my cock. He did it.

Blackest Night touches the Tiny Titans this month. Boo. I mean, Art Baltazar and Franco remain the driving force behind the issue, so it's still Aw Yeah awesome, but it's not the same. It's...less than.

I guess the setup is cute and all - the Titans get their hands on some technicolor lantern rings from "Mr. Johns's Sidekick City Pawn Shop and Bubblegum Emporium," try them on & float around. Then the Guardians & Green Lantern show up & take'em back. Hrmpff. Much like an actual Blackest Night tie-in, where goodies and baddies get their hands on technicolor rings, try them on & float around (killing each other) to similar non-effect.

Stay away! Not from this issue, which you still must read because it is, after all, still Tiny Titans. I mean Geoff Johns. Stay away!

Beasts of Burden

Evan Dorkin writes animals better than most writers write people. I mean that two ways. The animals of Burden Hill have such clearly recognizable voices and personalities & Dorkin accomplishes a lot of their characterization in a very few pages, making his furry sleuths as immediately sympathetic and endearing as the animals I remember from Homeward Bound. But even if you ignore the fact of their four legs & look at them each on a basic character level, they're still more completely developed on an individual basis than many human characters on the comic stands today. I get more out of two panels of Beasts of Burden than I do out of two full issues of Joe the Barbarian, and that's resident deity Grant Morrison. So Dorkin is impressive.

And Jill Thompson is phenomenal. She has this classic-looking watercolor painted style - I don't know enough about art to say exactly what she uses, maybe it'd be obvious to someone with art smarts, but whatever she does, it looks delightful. The art almost has a kind of 40's Disney feel - it's cute and cartoony, but it's also amazingly detailed and expressive. So everyone looks totally cuddly and adorable, instant love.

And then something comes along, say, a giant frog, and devours some hapless pup and then the giant frog regurgitates its own insides and then the giant frog explodes into tiny regular frogs after the Burden Hill gang tears out its tongue, severing its spiritual anchor. You know, 'cause it was an aggregate demon. The giant flesh-eating frog. Aggregate. Demon.

Oooh riiight, Beasts of Burden is really about a crazy fucking crew of paranormal animal detectives investigating X-Files-level insanity in the picturesque & sinister town of Burden Hill. Fucking awesome. Four issues out so far, and a couple stories printed back in those hardcover Dark Horse Book of the Dead anthologies. Aggregate demon frog!

Red Robin #9

Weee! I love this book. Except for the Red Robin title and costume. I mean I get why Tim is rocking the moniker, but I can't wait until he gets his own identity. How fucking cool was Nightwing? Tim needs that.

Chris Yost does a really nice job with Tim's voice - he's sensitive without being a giant vagina & he's flippant and witty without being a Peter Parker knock-off. I also appreciate how Yost is handling Tim's relationships. He's really just a kid, so his friendships past and present kind of define his entire character. I guess you could say the same for anyone, but Tim has grown up, and is growing up, entirely around superheroes. He's a great counterpoint to Damian.

I dunno who actually handles the pencils - cover says Bachs, interior says To - but I like'em. McCarthy inks & Major colors. They three make cute Kryptonian puppies and pretty boy hair. Make a pretty new costume for Tim! And aawww, Tim and Conner hug! Wow. I am a giant vagina. But aawww!

Daredevil #504

Diggle & De La Torre's takeover of DD has been pretty seamless so far - if you weren't paying attention to the credits, you might just see #504 as more of the same gloriously gritty underworld machinations. Diggle's writing is just as taught & compelling as Brubaker's, and it looks like his plans for the title are even more epic. I love the idea of Matt using the Hand to police the police & Kingpin's plot to play his enemies against each other - I mean I guess that doesn't sound shockingly original, but the execution has been delightful.

De La Torre and Hollingsworth create some really striking images here. Daredevil sitting atop his underworld throne, ensconced in candlight, smoke, and shadows is perfectly diabolic. Diggle's battlefield speeches may be a little over the top, but I like seeing Matt lead his soldiers into a hail of moonlit gunfire. Also there's the whole Shadowland thing. You know, Matt's indy prison in the sewers. The new shithole where he'll lock up Osborn's dirty cops? Shadowland. Wait, wha...? Awesome.

Grimjack: The Manx Cat

I feel like Grimjack is the refined product of an idea dreamed up by a deranged seventh grader rotting in detention & clandestinely scribbled down on torn spiral bound notebook paper. And by refined, I mean still deranged and rotten, only with quality writing and art.

Manx Cat has been my righteous introduction to John Gaunt. Guy dresses like a gypsy legionnaire & acts like a bastard amalgamation of Conan and Jonah Hex thrust through time and space like John Carter. This book is as over the top as Over the Top, but Ostrander & Truman never let it run away. It represents everything that was gaudy and excessive about the 80's & a bit of what's missing from whatever the fuck you call decades in the 2000's. It's fun without being frivolous & gritty without being self-indulgent or hyper-serious. You should read it. You need an asshole on your side.

Secret Six #18

I feel like the arrival of the Black Lanterns in full force really killed the momentum of this run. The last several issues of Secret Six have been fucking outstanding. I'm late to the book, just started with Ostrander's Deadshot story in issue #15 (also amazing), but Simone & Ostrander have definitely sold me on catching up with the series. Love to get some older Suicide Squad stuff, too - the Blackest Night one-issue revival was actually great.

But all of those issues were leading up to this moment, I suppose, when the Six & the Squad throw down with the dead. There's just not a whole lot to do with this shit, though - every issue, every week, every month, heroes fight zombies. Should be awesome, but it's actually getting really stale. In my mind, the plot development is staggeringly slow. Bring on Brightest Day & some good old fashioned people-killing!

Batgirl #7

So good! Bryan Q. Miller has a sure command over the individual personalities of the Bat clan, and the guy has a delightful sense of humor. There's such a pleasant, casual, easy flow to his dialogue. I love how Barbara and Dick are playing mom & pop - or at least big sister & brother - to Stephanie and Damian, who exchange witty banter as they frolic through Gotham's underbelly.

I'm also really enjoying the art by Garbett, Scott, and Major. They have a playful touch to match the tone of the book, and they do a nice job with the action scenes that dominate the plot. I particularly like the panels with Dick flitting away from a bombed Devil's Square & Phosphorus choking Dick (there's probably a way to write 'Dick flitting' & 'choking Dick' without sounding dirty, but why?). Also, Damian always reminds me of Watterson's Calvin, a similarity which I find endlessly entertaining. He's totally a member of G.R.O.S.S.

Green Arrow and Black Canary #29

The "Five Stages" arc with Cupid & Dark Arrow concludes here. Got a little stale for me. I kind of wish this title was handled more like Daredevil over at Marvel - Ollie's always seemed a little goofy to me, so I'd either like to see him channeling badass Matt Murdock, or prancing around like his Brave and the Bold cartoon counterpart. The tone right now isn't serious enough to be truly exciting nor sharp enough to be truly witty. So no shocks & no funnies, for the most part. Although Ollie pins Cupid's hand to dam with an arrow, so it's got that.

And it's got Sienkiewicz! He handles the finishes over Norton's layouts. His inks are fucking dazzling, even though the action is mostly ho-hum. Well, except for the aforementioned arrow-to-the-hand bit, there's always that. I would love to see Sienkiewicz go balls out with his own layouts. I feel like he doesn't do so much. What the fuck, Bill?

Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #20

I would have no complaints if this title took the place of the regular Marvel Universe Avengers books. Maybe I'll get my wish in May when The Heroic Age brings back lighter & friendlier fare. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the dwindling Marvel Adventures line when that kicks in - I mean, MA is basically what HA promises to be.

Anyways, Paul Tobin does good with the script. He and his predecessor, Jeff Parker, know how to work the funnies into dialogue without forcing the issue. Comics aimed at the younger crowd - and a great deal of all-ages comics, for that matter - push the kind of bland comedy that makes me blanch like the awkward pause before the laugh track kicks in on half-assed sitcoms. I do miss the Hulk's delightfully round wit, but Thor gives me the giggles, too. I like the line-up - Black Widow & Nova are nice additions to the team. Excellent colors & strong page layouts here. Also, nothing beats Cap wearing his shield like a schoolbag.

Batman and Robin #8

A few issues ago this was a refreshingly straight superhero crime comic - or as straight as Grant Morrson gets, which is pretty fucking twisted, but in a good way - but more recently Batman and Robin feels like a complete return to RIP, though not in a good way. I'll reread the storyline when all is said and done and I'll appreciate it then, yes? In the mean time, not so much.

Siege #2

I can't believe I'm enjoying this so much. I mean it's nothing fantastic, but it's fun and, for my money, well executed so far. And at two issues, it's already half over! I've been avoiding most things Marvel for a couple years now. I'm generally not a fan of writing by Bendis or Millar or art by Hitch, and I feel like they touch nearly everything Marvel puts out. That may not even be remotely accurate, just feels that way. But I like Siege. Seems like it's designed to have the same impact on the Marvel Universe as Blackest Night on the DCU, yet it's moving along at ten times the speed.

Laura Martin's coloring is pretty awesome. I'm okay with Coipel's pencils here, but his layouts really shine. Great match in pacing and tone to Bendis' script. Although the impact of the two page team splash is destroyed by the 'meet the Avengers' roll call. The Ares/Sentry fight makes up for it - I was genuinely surprised by the rending of limb from limb. Nasty.

Considering the players involved and the gravity of the plot, Bendis' writing is down to earth and endearing. Does that make any sense? In the big event bubble, Bendis is writing his characters while Johns is writing his plot. Blackest Night is a blurred smorgasbord of evisceration, which should be terrific, I'm just not feeling anything. On the other hand, I want to hug the Thor/Maria/Jason scenes.

That said, the final four panels sold me on Siege in general and Siege #2 in particular. Incoming!

Sweet Tooth #6

I feel like The Unwritten is the Vertigo book getting more press fellatio lately, but I kind of despise it. I mean I'm probably supposed to adore it because I was an English major in college & I like books and all, but there it is. Sweet Tooth is righteous, though. Lemire's scripts are bare bones but engaging, Gus is adorable, and Jepperd is a leathery badass. Also he may be kind of a bastard.

This one begins the new "In Captivity" arc. So after Jepperd's apparent betrayal, Gus finds himself in a militia pen with a cluster of mangy mutants & a not so bright future ahead of him. Interesting to see the disparate levels of cognizance among the animal kids. Jepperd's back story takes the forefront here and it's pretty wrenching. Creepy final page. I mean it's terribly sad. But creepy.

Oh and Lemire's art is fucking outstanding. I'm torn between commenting on Villarubia's equally delightful coloring or just leaving off with 'fucking outstanding.' Here we go. Villarubia's coloring is fucking outstanding. Win!

Jonah Hex #52

Hex wrassles a gator! Bernet is a great artist. Gray & Palmiotti continue to be a great team. And Bernet is a great artist! Hex looks a little Clint Eastwood here, and the plot actually reminds me of an Eastwood flick whose title I don't remember - he gets shot with an arrow and coaches his traveling companion, who I believe is a nun, through its extraction. With a whiskey bottle. And fire. Surgery is less exciting in this comic, but still. Brings me back.

Gray & Palmiotti manage consistently to write throwback Westerns that are vaguely moral without being sickeningly saccharine. Just sickening. I feel like if I ever impregnate my life partner & she spawns me a son, I shall forgo traditional fathering and entrust his development to the manly lessons learned in this book. Hex kills a kid with a rock!

Daredevil #500

I'm sorry I missed this one when it first came out, might be my favorite single issue of '09. I haven't kept up with Daredevil over the last year, but this one is easy to break into. Also it carries the delightful "Previously in Daredevil" recaps, which are pretty comprehensive. Brubaker closes shop with a tight & taught script leaving DD holding the Hand, Kingpin with his dick in the wind, and Owl in line for a handicapped parking permit. The art from Lark, Gaudiano & Co. is right on - they have this way of limning moments of frenzy with touches of serenity - I love how when DD tosses his billy club, there's only the faintest indication, if any, of flight until it knocks someone upside the head.

And the main story isn't even the best part! Diggle gets a few pages of promo for his upcoming run - I like the writing, not so much Tan's pencils. Nice setup though. Nocenti & Aja's bit is fucking great. I thought for a second it wasn't going to have any real dialogue, just sound effects and ass kicks, and I was totally fine with that - Aja is ridiculously good, pitch-perfect for Nocenti's story (so I'm glad there was dialogue after all!), nice classic feel with Hollingsworth's colors.

Next up is a pin-up gallery - really like Geof Darrow's "Hi Frank," but Rafael Grampa's is the bee's knees for me. I don't think I'm familiar with his stuff - reminds me a lot of Paul Pope.

But the best part! DD #191.

Jesus fuck, Frank Miller.

Wonder Woman #40

This one has the quiet cool. Blissfully removed from the dregs of Blackest Night, Diana takes a timeout to clean up the homestead. Quetzlotl, serpent son of god Quetzalcoatl, uncharacteristically swallows a city subway train without having the courtesy to first excuse the commuters. Wonder Woman does damage control & sends off the apologetic serpent with a slap on the wrist, and also heeds Q's parting warning of impending slaughter.

Elsewhere, a respected local lawyer uncharacteristically sets ablaze a synagogue. And the parishioners within. Someone should probably pay closer attention to the ethnically diverse prep school squad with ominous orange glowing eyes who really harsh the mellow at both disaster scenes. Meanwhile, Diana visits friend Bette in the hospital. Simone writes some delightful dialogue here, nice balance to Wonder Woman's witty banter & brash fighting persona. Then Power Girl & Wonder Woman beat the fuck out of each other! Yay.

Captain America: Reborn #6

"Oh man...That is a really big Red Skull..." Awesome. Almost as awesome as giantized Red Skull's battle cry: "You'll all die beneath my feet!" Let me get out of the way the fact that I don't care for Hitch's art. It's often chaotic and sometimes okay and always inconsistent. What's with the thick white bars as panel borders? But Paul Mounts rocks the colors.

And back to the writing we go. Brubaker has the kind of command over Captain America that Geoff Johns (most of the time) has over Green Lantern. But Brubaker is way more fun. I mean, this shit is balls out ridiculous. Not any more ridiculous than any other action superhero saga. Brubaker sets his apart with tone. There's nothing self-righteous about his work on Cap. Johns can be too dramatic, and he tends to beat a once-great concept into repetitive ruin. Brubaker's enthusiasm is infectious, though, and it feels like he has as much fun writing his words as I have reading them.

So I don't care about the publishing fuck-up on this issue, didn't affect my reading. Steve dominates Red Skull on the psychological battlefield & then shit gets physical on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And the "It's him...It's Captain America!" splash? To hell with cynicism. It moved.

Batman and Robin #7

Well you can't blame this month's issue on the absence of Frank Quitely. Cameron Stewart's art is totally serviceable - I know that doesn't sound like a compliment, but Quitely set the bar way high, and Grant Morrison gives Stewart next to nothing to work with after the opening act. Cool cover though. The only reason you need to care about this comic is the potential in Bruce's post-mortem visit to the Lazarus Pit Spa.

Detective Comics #861

Jock takes over for J.H. Williams III on art this month - I haven't been paying attention so I don't know if this is a permanent change or not. Williams III has been just about deified for his work on Detective, but Jock does right by me. Don't get me wrong, Williams III is righteous (and nails the cover). I'm most impressed by his design sense, his unequaled ability to layout unique pages. But is it terrible to prefer Jock's take on the Bat characters? I prefer Jock's take on the Bat characters. I like the more scratchy, edgy, angular line work. I love the rainy city colors by David Baron. A few pages stand out. Batman perched on the prow. Kate & Captain Sawyer in the woods. The Batman/Batwoman split page. All cool.

I will say the book feels less feminine this month, and I don't know if that's good or bad. At first, I wasn't at all interested in Kate at the helm of Detective. Then Rucka picked up the writing, and I cared some more. Now Kate shares the spotlight with Dick. It totally works & I'm always game for more Batman, but I was also really beginning to appreciate that butch red-headed angel. We'll see where this goes.

Rucka seems really comfortable here. He kind of coasted those first few issues, but this is right on. Pretty straightforward. Dick is out for Vanessa Hansen, kidnapped heiress to the family fortune, and Kate is after the Cutter, who does to Gotham University girls exactly what his name implies. The character-building moments work best - Dick & Jim Gordon, Kate & maybe soon-to-be-victimized cousin Bette. To tell you the truth, Kate with a bit of Dick (I kill me) works well - I could do without the Question Second Feature if we could trade it in for more Bats.

Fantastic Four #575

Weeee! I love everything about this book. I mean that about Hickman & Eaglesham's run as a whole. Totally my favorite monthly. Although I use that descriptor on a bunch of books, so maybe that takes away from 'favorite.' Fantastic Four is at least the comic I look forward to most. So I guess it is my favorite. Or it's up there. I'm not saying it should be your favorite, too, but Fantastic Four is everything I'm looking for in the medium. Concise writing that can be both playful and serious. Classic-looking art with contemporary style that can be as explosive as it is subtle. Big moments. Little moments. And behind it all, an overwhelming sense of fun & possibility. As much as it could rightfully wear the old "World's Greatest Comic Magazine" slogan, I love how each issue now bears a quote from the script - "There is chaos in the underworld..." sits up high this month.

I never liked FF when I was younger. It was always so fucking wordy! Hickman is as good with the words as anyone writing superhero comics today, and his pacing is perfect. Several panels without text, let Eaglesham tell the story. Clever & swift dialogue that doesn't waste panel space & doesn't lack depth (I love the Thing/Mole Man exchange, fuck if I care that Ben is sappy: "Nobody should have to be a monster that don't want to be"). Writer & artist just seem to operate in perfect synchronicity, and Hickman sets up Eaglesham with some delightful splashes here - Mole Man arrives! Galactus dies! A city rises! Wouldn't be fair to ignore the rest of the crew. Classic cover by Davis, Farmer, and Rodriguez. Wooton shines - I particularly like the Ascension-Engine-Thing font (is the letterer responsible for the speech bubble shapes, too? Whoever is, I like the wavey ones!). Mounts is perfect for Eaglesham - if you didn't appreciate it the first time, go back to the coloring in the cavern scene, or Mole Man's initial entrance, or Galactus' burial site. I love the I-can't-fucking-wait-to-see-what-comes-next page turn anticipation.

The plot! Subterranea is in peril! Way back when, the High Evolutionary plays Island of Dr. Moreau in the underworld with his Ascension Engine, but when evolution backfires, H.E. jumps ship. Everyone's favorite Moloids later stumble upon the still-functioning Engine & enjoy a jaunt on the super-intelligence treadmill - as they devolve in appearance to resemble fugly humans, they evolve in smarts to challenge Mole Man. And of course, the more human-looking anything becomes, so too the more insidious! Moloids want raise city! Mole Man angry, Moloids subservient! Thing clobber! I repeat: weeee!

Superman: Secret Origin #4

I guess I'm just missing the point of Secret Origin. I mean, I get the intended point, but not what's actually coming out in print each month. If I were more well versed in the minutia of Superman's history, I might notice the retcons and 'secrets' that Johns must be throwing in here. But I'm not. So I don't. This just reads like the standard Superman origin story to me, the kind I remember reading every couple of years in typical ongoing titles to catch up new readers. For that matter, Secret Origin is basically just a bloated version of the few lines of character encapsulation that run at the beginning of most monthlies. Maybe I shouldn't blame Johns for this - it's not his fault I'm not picking up on the new tidbits - but unless there's a pretty dramatic payoff in the final two issues, this affair has been a waste of time.

Honestly, I wouldn't even mind if this were just another origin retelling with some added flare. I love superhero origin stories, and it's usually interesting to see how different/new/contemporary writers interpret the standard story. But there's nothing here to really enjoy. I'm not blown away by shocking retcons, and I'm not rejoicing in the well-worn yet eminently glorious birth of Superman.

To be fair, this issue does have some merit. Gary Frank, whose art I normally find static & ho-hum, draws a pretty disgusting Parasite, and Brad Anderson's coloring is awesome. The pages of putrid pink metamorphisis & ensuing fight with Superman are great, and the bit with Jimmy Olsen at the end is cute. I would totally buy a poster of the toothy sphincter-mouthed Parasite splash page.

Justice League of America #41

I'm generally not a fan of Bagley's work. To me, it's the art equivalent of bubblegum pop music. I guess it has a sort of generic mass appeal, but it's flat & lacks personality. The script is unfortunately a perfect partner here. There has to be a better way to introduce a new team lineup than having the welcome wagon flit around soap-boxing & brandishing stylized letters.

I've enjoyed Robinson's writing on the Superman books so far - it's certainly not going to go down in the annals of history as one of the great Superman runs, but it's entertaining & different enough to keep me reading - but his JLA is killing me. Despite the promise of a more classic lineup, my excitement has pretty much bottomed out. I'm a sucker, so I'll probably stick around for another issue or two just to see what Robinson does with the book once the team is actually together, but beyond the weak promise of a brighter future, there's nothing but flaccidity in what should be DC's flagship title.

Catwoman #83

I did not expect to like this comic so much. I mean it stars a girl character, and I'm terribly misogynistic in my superhero preferences. But it's one of the Blackest Night one-issue revivals, and I'm buying all the others, so why not. Turns out, it's kind of delightful. Tony Bedard's script offers everything I found lacking in Johns' writing on Blackest Night: Flash #2. The guy doesn't take this shit too seriously! Several references to Black Mask torturing Catwoman's brother-in-law & then forcing the wife, Catwoman's sister, to eat hubby's eyeballs! Still fun!

Couple things don't totally work for me. I don't care for the font used on Catwoman's internal monologue & I prefer bold text for emphasis rather than the underlining used here. That's just me being picky. Not a huge fan of the art - looks a little too digital for my taste - but it's okay. The first few pages of Selina fighting Black Lantern Black Mask are cool, I like the panel layouts & coloring. The eyeball-scalpel scenes are tasty. The "animal crackers" Harley Quinn panel is righteous. Solid Hughes cover.

Straightforward plot - a few references to older stories I haven't read, but Bedard provides all the necessary details. Black Mask is now a born-again Black Lantern & gunning for Catwoman, who put the bullet in his head. Mask goes after Selina's sister, who's been institutionalized after the aforementioned eyeball incident. Selina gets by with a little help from her Gotham City Sirens friends, Poison Ivy & Harley Quinn. It's Bedard's tone that carries the book, though. The Blackest Night concept is pretty straight camp to begin with, and Bedard doesn't shy away from it. This isn't a must-buy or anything close, but for my money, it's a solid 7/10. I laughed a little. The zombie thing works best with an edge of ridiculous comedy. This one has a scalpel.

p.s. The DC website shows entirely different creative credits for this issue: "Written by Fabian Nicieza; Art by Julian Lopez and Bit; cover by Guillem March." I went with the credits listed inside the comic.