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eddycurrents · 6 years

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For the week of 1 October 2018

You can read a full review of the excellent first issue of Rainbow Brite here.

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #5 concludes the first arc, showing us what happened to the other agent in the warehouse, and giving a bit of closure to what happened in Carnahan investigation. This is some of the darkest, creepiest stuff I’ve seen from Garth Ennis and he’s got plenty of good horror out there. Perfectly brought to life by Goran Sudžuka and Ive Svorcina.

| Published by AfterShock

Asgardians of the Galaxy #2 is more entertaining cosmic fare, reminding me a bit of some of the bizarre cosmic quests Marvel used to publish back in the 80s and 90s. Particularly some old Silver Surfer and Warlock & The Infinity Watch. It’s hard to qualify that feeling, but it’s welcome in the story. The artwork from Matteo Lolli and Federico Blee continues to be top notch.

| Published by Marvel

Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams #1 is weird, but what else would you expect from The Maxx? Beautiful art here from Sam Kieth, with a softer, almost watercolour like colour style from Ronda Pattison.

| Published by IDW & DC Comics

Battlestar Galactica (Classic) #0 is a free preview of the next volume of the series from John Jackson Miller, Daniel HDR, Natalia Marques, and Taylor Esposito. I’ve like quite a bit of Miller’s Star Wars work, and despite not particularly caring for the original BSG, this isn’t bad. The artwork from HDR and Marques is very nice, both in terms of the likenesses and in the level of detail that the pair are putting into the ships and starfields.

| Published by Dynamite

Blackbird #1 is off to a good start, giving us a mix of magic and kind of a more grounded coming of age story. The artwork is a huge draw, with Jen Bartel, Paul Reinwand, and Nayoung Wilson delivering something that feels a bit like Kris Anka’s work in Runaways and Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson’s in The Wicked + The Divine. Somewhere between reality and imagination.

| Published by Image

Champions #25 kicks off a trip to Weirdworld for the team as they search for where Man-Thing carried off Sam and Nadia, allowing Jim Zub to play around in his fantasy wheelhouse, and giving Sean Izaakse and Max Dunbar to show off some really nice art and designs. The shift into fantasy is really well done, adapting the Champions into the setting through the method of transit there, rather than the more typical straight forward delivery. It gives an interesting counterpoint to the earlier Deadpool #4 and this week’s Weapon H #8 in their own use of Weirdworld.

| Published by Marvel

Dead Rabbit #1 is probably the best crime series debut I’ve read since Hot Lunch Special #1, and this is really damn good. Gerry Duggan and John McCrea create a very compelling lead in Martin Dobbs, the former Dead Rabbit, a retired masked thief now working at a Walmart analogue. McCrea, with colours from Mike Spicer, employs a more restrained form of his usual exaggerated style here and it is gorgeous, fitting the dark reality and gravity of the story.

| Published by Image

Death of the Inhumans #4 has a huge revelation that somehow makes everything worse. Yes, worse than killing Lockjaw. Donny Cates, Ariel Olivetti, Jordie Bellaire, and Clayton Cowles continue the blows coming, even as the Inhuman royal family and Beta Ray Bill attempt to get a modicum of retribution against Vox and the Kree.

| Published by Marvel

Death Orb #1 is off to an interesting start, laying heavy into the post-apocalyptic feel of things like Mad Max and Akira, with a sword of Damocles hanging high above the remaining people’s heads. It’s a familiar world that Ryan Ferrier and Alejandro Aragon have created here, but it’s compelling, making me wonder what more is there for the characters.

| Published by Dark Horse

Deathstroke #36 kicks off the “Arkham” arc. This is the first issue of this volume of Deathstroke I’ve read, but it flows really well for a new reader, even if you only have a passing knowledge of the various villains in Arkham Asylum. It reads very much in Priest’s style, with scenes broken down by title cards, sections working almost as discrete vignettes at times, and a nice amount of humour thrown in for god measure. Great art from Ed Benes, Fernando Pasarin, Richard Friend, Jason Paz, Wade von Grawbadger, and Jeromy Cox. Although the requisite backstory is provided in text, I’m definitely tempted to go back and read the rest of the series to see what I’ve missed.

| Published by DC Comics

Euthanauts #3 is another transcendental experience from Tini Howard, Nick Robles, Eva De La Cruz, and Neil Uyetake. The artwork from Robles and De La Cruz is incredible, with amazing layouts, panel transitions, and character designs that just pull you into the story that the entire creative team is telling.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Giant Days #43 continues the very weird Christmas-themed issues surrounding the Winter Village. Weird in that it’s strange to be reading about Christmas in October, but it’s still chock full of the humour and adroit depiction of university life that the series usually is.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

House Amok #2 is a solid follow-up to what has been one of the best first issues this year. Christopher Sebela, Shawn McManus, Lee Loughridge, and Aditya Bidikar have something here that is incredibly different and very compelling for everything else published right now. This issue relays the family’s descent into madness and it’s a fascinating look at how everything can go wrong. Like a cult in microcosm.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Iron Fist #1 is the third of Marvel’s new double-sized digital original ongoing series to be released. Like Jessica Jones and Luke Cage before it, this is very good. Somewhat surprisingly, this one’s a horror story. Clay McLeod Chapman, Guillermo Sanna, Lee Loughridge, and Travis Lanham tap into some Chinese folklore for the antagonist and set up an interesting quandary that borrows elements from Idle Hands and Ash vs. The Army of Darkness.

| Published by Marvel

Jook Joint #1 is a very dark book, tapping into themes of sexual assault, domestic abuse, and horrific, but likely justified, retribution. Understandably, some will find this first issue difficult, not just for the violence, but for the subject matter, but I think presentations of this kind of horror, bringing a mirror up to our darker natures, is necessary and important to tell. Tee Franklin, Alitha E. Martinez, Shari Chankhamma, and Taylor Esposito have something interesting here.

| Published by Image

The Last Siege #5 is a bit of turning point for the series, and quite possibly the best issue to date in a series of best issues. The tone and presentation changes as our stranger gets a name, and a backstory, and it’s very well told. Landry Q. Walker, Justin Greenwood, Brad Simpson, and Patrick Brosseau really step up this issue and I’d highly recommend it even if you’ve not been reading since the beginning.

| Published by Image

The Lollipop Kids #1 is one of the most beautiful books on the stands this week, with absolutely beautiful artwork from Diego Yapur and DC Alonso. The colour work and depth to the characters is just stunning.

| Published by AfterShock

The Lone Ranger #1 begins an interesting story here of land rights and the introduction of gentrification and eminent domain in Texas. Exactly the kind of thing that you’d expect from Mark Russell. There’s still a great deal of action, though, ably delivered from Bob Q, who’s proving here that he’s just as adept at the old American West as he is at WWII England.

| Published by Dynamite

Paradiso #8 brings the “Dark Dwellers” arc to a close, even though it sets up much more for the next arc with a particularly harrowing cliffhanger. I love how Ram V and Devmalya Pramanik are telling this story, with ample routes for failure, deception, and characters taking wrong turns. This world isn’t happy, is incredibly flawed, and it shines through in the nuanced storytelling.

| Published by Image

Redlands #7 returns after more than half a year and it was well worth the wait. The opening to this next arc continues the plot threads that have been established and points to something new with the arrival of the sisters’ father. Jordie Bellaire, Vanesa Del Rey, and Clayton Cowles drop us right back into the deep end of this layered and compelling horror.

| Published by Image

Sparrowhawk #1 is great. It’s a new fantasy in the vein of Alice in Wonderland, but with faeries and a much darker tone, from Delilah S. Dawson, Matias Basla, and Jim Campbell. I love the artwork from Matias Basla, who has a style not dissimilar to Eduardo Risso and Matías Bergara, and it works so incredibly well for dark fantasy.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Spook House 2 #1 is a welcome return, delivering up a new limited series chock full of off-beat, irreverent, and humorous mostly all ages horror stories, just in time for Halloween. This first issue offers four; a tale each from Steve Mannion and Eric Powell, each handling full creative duties themselves, then a go-kart satire of Stephen King’s Christine, by Powell, Jake Smith, and Warren Montgomery, and a take on Swamp Thing dedicated to the memory of Bernie Wrightson and Len Wein, from Powell, Kyle Hotz, and Montgomery. This last one is probably the best of the book and nicely captures the tone and feel of a muck-encrusted monster, with great art from Hotz and Montgomery.

| Published by Albatross Funnybooks

The Superior Octopus #1 is the last stop on the ride before Spider-Geddon proper begins and also serves as a bit of a preview of the forthcoming resurrected Superior Spider-Man series from this same team of Christos Gage and Mike Hawthorne (with Wade von Grawbadger, Jordie Bellaire, and Clayton Cowles - though I don’t know if they’ll also be on that book). It’s good. The art from Hawthorne, von Grawbadger, and Bellaire is great as expected and Gage has the voice of Octavius down pat.

| Published by Marvel

These Savage Shores #1 is the third brilliant debut from Vault in these past two weeks, and is quite possibly the best first issue of a series this year. This comic is brilliant, in form, style, structure, and execution. Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar don’t just knock this one out of the park, it’s a hit gone from the stratosphere. Most of this team collaborated before on Ruin of Thieves to tell a wonderful story there, with Astone the newcomer on colours, and the result is an excellent creative team to give seamless storytelling.

This is horror, mixed with adventure, playing with the vampire, Indian folktales, colonial expansionism into India, and more coming together into one brilliant package. The fact that it’s mostly told through an epistolary format is the perfect homage to Dracula, but it also gives us an incredible moment later that helps turn those conventions on their ear. And the art is absolutely gorgeous. Kumar and Astone are just incredible. The art is lush, even as it embraces a formalist structure in variations on nine panel grids, mixing what you’d possibly consider the order of the European world with the natural feel of India’s jungles.

Like Fearscape and Friendo, you do not want to sleep on this series. Highly, highly recommended.

| Published by Vault

Typhoid Fever: Spider-Man #1 is another limited series of specials similar to the recent Wakanda Forever, spotlighting in this case Typhoid Mary, who seems to undergo a bit of a powers change and a new personality development. It’s the second series being written by Clay McLeod Chapman this week, again giving an interesting different perspective to the storytelling, this time incorporating breaks into delusional fantasies of soap operas. Nice art from Stefano Landini and Rachelle Rosenberg.

| Published by Marvel

Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion #1 is a very welcome return after almost a decade. It hits the same notes of weird and action that I’d expect from Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá (with colours from Nick Filardi and letters from Nate Piekos). It is, however, probably about as new reader friendly as reading The Return of the King first. I mean, I’ve read the previous series, loved them, and I’m looking to go back and re-read them because I’m sure I’ve missed things. This issue does nothing to help readers to get reacquainted or caught up on what’s come before.

| Published by Dark Horse

What If...? Spider-Man #1 is among the first of 2018′s volley of What If...? stories. There doesn’t seem to be any particular theme this year, though, just embracing the standard variety of alternate reality formula. Possibly because it’s been three years since the last batch. This one takes on What if Flash Thompson Became Spider-Man? It’s not a half bad story from Gerry Conway, very much taking on the traditional type of morality tale, with some nice art from Diego Olortegui, Walden Wong, and Chris O’Halloran.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Archie #699, Barbarella #10, Black AF: Widows & Orphans #3, Black Crown Quarterly #4, Cloak & Dagger #5, Cosmic Ghost Rider #4, Dark Souls: Age of Fire #4, Deep Roots #4, Doctor Strange #6, DuckTales #13, Eclipse #11, Errand Boys #1, James Bond: Origin #2, Jim Henson’s Beneath the Dark Crystal #3, The Magic Order #4, Noble #12, Paper Girls #25, Spawn #290, Star Wars #55, Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle #1, Taarna #3, Thief of Thieves #41, TMNT: Macroseries - Donatello #1, Tomb Raider: Inferno #4, Tony Stark: Iron Man #4, War Bears #2

Recommended Collections: Analog - Volume 1: Death by Algorithm, Complete Angel Catbird, Avengers - Volume 1: Final Host, Avengers/Doctor Strange: Rise of the Darkhold, Conspiracy of Ravens, The Dead Hand - Volume 1: Cold War Relics, Doctor Strange - Volume 2: City of Sin, Eternal Empire - Volume 2, The Gravediggers Union - Volume 2, Harrow County - Volume 8: Done Come Back, Hellstorm Omnibus, Manifest Destiny - Volume 6, Me the People, Rough Riders - Volume 3: Ride or Die, The Wicked + The Divine - Volume 7: Mothering Invention, Wrath

d. emerson eddy thinks you should probably look out for more new and exciting--okay, maybe just new--things in the near and/or distant future. Like cars. Please, don’t play in traffic.

#This Week in Comics

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