#I want to punch Bemis in the face

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Listen there is so many characters that represent intergenerational trauma in bemis run, (Ra as Khonshu's dad and a foil to Elias, Ernst as the personification of the people who killed Marc's family) but then Bemis doesn't explore that or botches the exploration

Like we already the Khonshu-Elias foil from Lemire run and then there's the grandfather Marc never knew. Who he only knows about through Yitz. and like I hate Yitz and Ernst being the same person (and a rabbi, it's not egdy it's just antisemitic) but Ernst is compelling to me (you are allowed to also be bored by him).

Here is the personification of what your father escaped and hey maybe if you kill your grandfather's murderer you'd get closure? Ha ha no.

But also clearly that's a story that Jews, not edgelord messianics get to tell.

I refuse to ever say anything nice about Bemis.

So the characters that represent intergenerational trauma do NOT come from Bemis' run.

Let's head back to "Death of Elias Spector" by Zelenetz.

This is where we get the story of the generational trauma and start to understand Moon Knight… Where we start to understand Marc Spector.

Up to this point, we have seen him be angry about Antisemitism, fight neonazi scum, and protect Jewish shop-keeps and the likes. We see him get angry about the bombing of a Synagogue and we see him become emotional over the loss of friends.

Before Zelenetz, we understood these to all be proper responses for a Jewish man. Or even just a man in this time period.

But it's when we see the generational trauma that was put so heavily on Marc's shoulders that we start to see those responses as more. We start to see his inner struggles with identity and expectations. We see him be a good man that sees himself as a bad one.

Bemis didn't see any of this.

Bemis said "What if the Rabbi is a Nazi and Marc witnessed him killing people?" He wants it to be more about personal betrayal and revenge than about the horrors of what an actual Nazi is!

There was no undertone. There was nothing deep. This was a man TRYING to tell a deep story for the sake of feeling an egotistical rush so he can pat himself on the back and let people think he's a good Jew.

You don't have to make a Nazi into a supernatural serial killer out for blood to make them into a horror figure.

The real horror lies in the fact that they were regular people that did these things because someone with a little power told them that it was okay.

But let's play with the story a moment. For argument's sake.

Ra as Khonshu's father SHOULD have been a fantastic foil to Elias. Much like in MCU when Ammit was a foil to their mother.

We should have gotten the dissapointed father. We should have gotten the failure for Khonshu to change the world for the better. We should have seen Khonshu change and grow and be able to rise up and declare that HE protects the travelors of the night. That he has chosen a perfect Avatar that can change the world. That he is the Pathfinder, the Embracer, the traveler, and the Defender.

And with that, there is more than violence and fighting. that he can be gentle and kind too.

But we didn't get that.

And Khonshu remains the same.

Moving on to the grandfather. Marc's whole family was murdered in WWII. None of them made it out except for his father and mother.

We don't need an enemy to be a murdering Nazi that specifically targeted his grandfather to make Marc angry.

We don't need a revenge story. That isn't what Moon Knight is about. Because he can't forgive a Nazi. And a Nazi should not live. And there is no way Marvel is going to show him killing a former Nazi out of pure revenge and not have that mess up the character of Marc Spector.

This isn't a revenge story of him hunting down Nazi.

He should never have touched on this. Because there ARE real Nazi that got away with it. There are real Nazi fucks that did terrible things and then wandered off to live normal happy lives.

Having him hide in plain sight AS A JEWISH RABBI is such a kick in the teeth.

And I'm going to do a review specifically on this run in a bit. Expect that soon.

I liked having Yitz as YITZ. Marc getting close to an older Rabbi because he couldn't get close to his own father is a good story. It shows his disconnect with people his own age and his father. It also shows him studying the Torah and working hard to be a good perfect Jewish boy, which leads into Steven's side of things and then further into Jake's take on the spiritual protector.

Heck, an interesting story would be if Yitz had done something that he felt betrayed his trust because then we have a good solid role model that somehow abandoned him or hurt him in some way. And it wouldn't have had to be something terrible. Maybe he left to another state to be with a different Synagogue without warning. Maybe he died suddenly? Any of those things could have hurt him and made him feel alone, since he already didn't connect to children in his school or his own father. We know that Marc feels alone and worthless. It's not a far stretch to show that maybe it started from losing someone he looked up to as a good Jewish person and then not having a role model anymore.

I did not like Ernst. Was he interesting? Probably. I get where he can be compelling as a villain. We all want to hate a good Nazi villain. It's one thing Hollywood has shown time and time again.

But there is no closure in this. There will never be closure in this. Marc still lost his family. His grandfather was a drop in an ocean and if they REALLY wanted to put Nazi fucks in the story, they should have just had young Marc accidentally walk into a KKK rally or something. Because we don't need the threat of the old Nazi. The Nazi just changed their hats. They're still out here today.

This is a story Bemis should never have touched.

I apologize it if sounds like I'm angry. I'm not angry at you by any means!

I'm just so pissed off at Bemis. I respect your wanting to see a better story from the stones Bemis laid before us. It's nice to dream that he could have been a better writer.

Marvel has a lot to answer for and this is just one more thing they managed to really screw up.

#Moon Knight #ask away #Talk to me about Moon Knight #I want to punch Bemis in the face

[xenonmoon]

Ok in the end I figured that no matter how fast I run (read: avoid writing the final 2016 review) I will never escape this demon (read: moving to the Bemis run) so I will eventually get tired after 2-3 km and have to punch them in the face anyway so buckle up

Some last notes after finishing the 2016 run!

Volume 1 notes Volume 2 notes

Ok this run's a fan favourite and we've talked to hell and back how good it is and all of that, so I will start with the Cons

Cons:

I think this volume's major flaw (and overall this run in a way) is the changes in the background that altered Marc's relationship with Bushman and his mercenary days. In this version of the story Raul is just a temporary employer like any other, they don't have history together, Bushman never tried to shape Marc into being a violent, ruthless mercenary. Marc never struggled between following Bushman's orders/walking his steps and standing his ground. There has never been a genuine internal conflict within Marc - his behaviour was coherent with what current-time-Marc would've done in this situation and the heroic attempt to thwart the villain's course of actions a natural consequence of this. Dr. Alraune's death wasn't even his fault. He did nothing "wrong" here, there was no "what the hell am I doing with my life" moment, there was no character growth after that simply because there was nothing for him to grow away from. Becoming Moon Knight wasn't even his choice and effort as a way to "repair the world" for the things he regrets having done during his mercenary days, he was manipulated into it by Khonshu, however you choose to interpret it. There was little space for agency in that. In this version of the story, Marc was just a troubled but good hearted guy caught up into a series of events. It washes out all the complexity that made the character interesting in the first place :/

Alters are once again treated as disposable plot devices for the protagonist to get on with the plot, as they were in the previous volume and the supporting cast was in the first. It's a bit of this run's thing at this point and ok, it works, but it's a bit sad to see this imbalance of importance between Marc and the others, despite making up for this a bit towards the end.

We see Steven's origin story with them as children and we get hinted at Commander's when they talk about toys, but we see absolutely nothing on Jake? Especially since the previous volume went out and about talking of this supposed long-term struggle between Marc and Jake but we see nothing of sort. Just a few lines during Elias' funeral and- we're not even sure if that was supposed to be Jake jumping out of the window or it was Marc again. Either way, it's not remotely the conflict that was talked about. And given it's not a reference to past comics, all it's left at the end is something pointing to a void in the narrative.

Speaking of Commander, he comes back during the rescue scene but he is completely absent during the final confrontation with Khonshu. We were told he was new so it's understandable that he's absent from the flashback but- what about the ending? This kind of betrays even further his placeholder nature, not a character that was meant to be carried on or become a part of the main cast. Sort of a B-lister alter. Mh

Where the hell is Randall? Ok, I'm all in for not cluttering the plot with unneeded stuff but I'm sure there could've been a way to treat this character interestingly? Or even mentioning him in some way? Lemire namedropped a lot of useless stuff over the course of this run so why not namedropping him too during the family scenes? Considering he's family?? I think he would've have been very useful as a character for an hypothetical Jake origin story or flashback if Lemire wanted to elaborate further on his violent background thing. Of the few things I'd salvage from Randall's earlier appearances there's the two brothers being often bullied or targeted by antisemitism at school. Jake could have been a response to that and an effort to keep his little brother (and later everyone society threw off a bus) safe and cared for. But there are endless possibilities for those characters dammit, I shouldn't do the writers' homework for them. (on a more subjective note - I'd have preferred they'd have shown more of this instead of the egyptian fantasy excursus. I you're following my rambles for long enough you know I love ancient Egyptian stuff but- it's always been the least interesting part of Moon Knight stories)

Mixed:

Ok listen, Elias' death scene works very well in the context of this story and I'm not mad about the change, but considering the original placement of that event (the end of the first run) and the huge impact it had on the character I'm left here wondering how is that moment in the MK system's life folding out in this "new" version of the story, if that happened at all, why did Steven give up being the system's host and all of that. How should I read further references to Elias' death, as Lemire's or the Moench's? I will probably choose on case-by-case scenario. It's mostly a me problem lol I'm kind of a perfectionist in this case. So it's not a con per se, more of a thing I've had mixed feelings about. Purely subjective.

I think I've talked about this before but I still have a lot of mixed feelings about the alters (or Steven at least) being introduced as imaginary friends. It works within the context of the story and all of that but it kinda reinforces the idea that the alters are some sort of separate extra things from an "original" one which is lowkey implied to be more important or at least with a more concrete basis than the others who are made-up beings. (plot twist: everyone is "made up" in some way or another. All people play their own characters in life, systems just happen to have a roster of them)

Pros:

I really loved the interlocking of past and present eventually converging into one narrative, it echoes the second volume with the alters getting mixed up with each other until they all arrive in the same place and there's the confrontation sequence. And another, final confrontation sequence happens here too but I'll get to that later

The pacing and the panel layouts are *chef kiss*. You already know how I love Smallwood and I think we can all agree on the art being gorgeous. I also appreciated the use of the visual medium to convey metaphors (like being sucked by a giant brain for "being lost in your mind" and such) and parallels (the "time means little here" sequence escalating into a meta level). It really also conveyed the feeling of going up against something some sort of eldritch being above human limits and comprehension, transcending the rules of time, space and medium. Gotta love some cosmic horror bits from time to time.

Ok it's time to address the elephant in the room. The fucking finale is GOLD. I'm ready to forgive every sin Mr. Lemire committed in this run just for that few last pages. I think this scene is so powerful because it embodies the desire of a lot of people to step up for themselves and win back their peace from an oppressive power – whether it may be. It’s a sentiment a lot of people can understand and relate to. I'm not even strictly talking about systems. Everyone at some point in their life has had their own bird-in-a-suit they really wanted to crush under their fingers so to finally have some quietness. It’s also one of the super rare cases Moon Knight’s illness gets treated by the story with the tact and respect of a real condition and not a narrative device, a glamourised funny quirk or the butt monkey for some really unpleasant jokes. In that moment Marc, Steven and Jake are a person with a serious condition that can’t be fixed or just forgotten. And in doing so the narrative sends a wonderful message to everyone struggling a similar battle: “I will never be cured. This is always going to be who I am. But I can still live. I can still have a life. And I won’t let you ruin that for me anymore” You can heal the trauma but you can’t change how a person is or how their brain works just because it doesn’t conform to your sense of normality. In a world and culture where it seems that as soon as you fall a bit out of the neatly pre-assembled boxes of society you’re treated as a disgusting waste of space, having something saying that’s ok and you’re still entitled to exist in this world just as anybody else can be life-changing to some, even if they come from a work of fiction. I’m sure there are people out there whom hold this run dear close to their heart because of these last lines. This is why I love well-crafted stories that touch readers' hearts, offer solace during difficult moments, or even change their lives altogether. In the context of Moon Knight this is also a huge breakthrough since the character’s condition, which is one of the core parts of what makes the character well- itself, has been more or less consistently swept under the carpet after the end of the Moench run. It’s a breath of fresh air after decades of suffocating denial. “But Xenon” some might say “this woke obsession with representation in the recent years is getting into the way of writing characters that are actually functional to tell a story!” The only obstacle on the way of a compelling, useful and respectful use of a character with a real-life condition is just the willingness of the author to put some god-forsaken effort on it and do their research, for Thot’s sake. The success of this run to the point of being the inspiration for the MCU series is the proof it can be done. It might not have been super great here all the times, but it set a new baseline on the portrayal of the character upon which future authors can build.

Now that i got it off my chest,

Final thoughts:

Not gonna lie, despite my criticism this is one of the runs I always suggest people to read when they ask me for comic recommendations. It might not be an accurate representation of how Moon Knight stories usually are / are supposed to be, but it's a well-written and wonderfully illustrated self-contained story that gives a nice introduction to a number of very different aspects of the character: the supporting cast, his struggles with mental health, his alters -despite Jake not being on point but the concept is There- and his origin story. It's great for casuals or people just mildly curious because it doesn't ask too much prior knowledge of the character, gives you a delicious bite of everything and leaves you wanting more.

Probably one of those runs that is better enjoyed if you don't know the comics version of the character, even.

And a better introduction to comics!Moon Knight for people coming from the MCU series than whatever the hell is going on with CotD, that's for sure.

#moon knight #moon knight comics #moon knight 2016 #lemire #smallwood #bellaire #torres #francavilla #stokoe #xenon reacts #final review #yeah I'm not spelling out the name of that miniseries #I know the author is watching #q tag

[stxleslyds]

I keep hearing abt moon knight but don't know anything abt it. Nada. Where can I start?

Anon! I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that you have come to me with this question!

Welcome to the Moon Knight world, be prepared my friend, it is going to be a bumpy ride!

Alrighty! Because I am not going to assume anything I will let you know about the many ways you can start this journey. With the Moon Knight Disney+ show there has been a lot of attention peeked (Hi! I am that example), I wanted to desperately know as much I as I could in little time, that’s why I took the route of Mr. Knight, this is of course not an official reading guide, it is what I did. Then, if you want to operate on a more formal way, I suggest you do the Moon Knight Verse route. Again, nothing official, just me making up names for things! Then the last option is the one that would be the easiest if Marc Spector weren’t such a constant evolving character, the Quick and Thank God the Run is Over or I Would Have Lost My Shit route.

Now it is time for explanations.

the route of Mr. Knight:

This route starts with Mr. Knight because I am a simple-minded woman and if I see a pretty man wearing a suit I just go “character design 11/10, please give me more”. Then it moves forward in different ways, but it has made me understand his character a lot without giving up on the journey.

Moon Knight Vol. 7 (2014): - Warren Ellis #1-6 - Brian Wood #7-12 - Cullen Bunn #13-17 Moon Knight Vol.8 (2016): - Jeff Lemire #1-14 - Max Bemis #188-200 Avengers Vol.8: - Jason Aaron “Age of Khonshu” arc #33-37 Moon Knight Vol.9 (2021): - Jed MacKay #1-9, Moon Knight: Devil’s Reign, #10-ongoing.

This my dear Anon, would lead you in a very nice path, almost zero bumps, the only one that can cause a little irritation might be the arc in #195-200 from Bemis’ run, but that might have been me, it just felt a little bit disjointed is all.

With this route you would be set for the most modern takes on Marc (Steven and Jake) and Khonshu. The whole thing is very mysterious but it is so beautifully written. Marc has been one lucky man at this time, the writing is excellent and the stories are fantastic, now, this is Marvel so continuity isn’t top notch but those are the rules. Some things are left unexplained and some others are just forgotten.

the Moon Knight Verse route:

This is also a route I took, when everything that was new was read and understood I needed to move to an era from Marvel that I am not that fond of. I was surprised though, I enjoyed some of these plenty, that’s why they are on this list. But here do be careful because I will mention runs that I haven’t been able to read yet (they will be written in italics).

Moon Knight Vol.1 by Doug Moench #1-38 (recommended reading, issues 1, 37 and 38 if you only want to know origins) Moon Knight Vol.2 by Alan Zelenetz #1-6 Marc Spector: Moon Knight Vol 1 (1989–1994) #1-60 Moon Knight Vol.3 by Doug Moench #1-4 Moon Knight Vol.4 by Doug Moench #1-4 Moon Knight Vol.5 (2006): - Charlie Huston #1-13 - Mike Benson #14-30 Vengeance of the Moon Knight Vol 1 by Gregg Hurwitz #1-10 Moon Knight Vol.6 by Michael Brian Bendis #1-12 Moon Knight Vol.7 (2014): - Warren Ellis #1-6 - Brian Wood #7-12 - Cullen Bunn #13-17 Moon Knight Vol.8 (2016): - Jeff Lemire #1-14 - Max Bemis #188-200 Avengers Vol.8: - Jason Aaron “Age of Khonshu” arc #33-37 Moon Knight Vol.9 (2021): - Jed MacKay #1-9, Moon Knight: Devil’s Reign, #10-ongoing.

This is his solo world; I am not including his appearances in other character’s stories or his life in West Coast Avengers because team books in Marvel give me headaches and I can’t put myself through that. This list is just pure Moon Knight throughout the years, it is complicated and an insane wild ride, like, I am not joking, sometimes you want to get off the ride and punch someone in the face.

the Quick and Thank God the Run is Over or I Would Have Lost My Shit route:

This one is the route that will let you in on the memes and most of the show’s antics. This is the “what the hell is going on here, is someone on crack here?” list. It is simple and it is finished. All of these runs are over so the answers are there as much as they can be.

Moon Knight Vol. 7 (2014): - Warren Ellis #1-6 - Brian Wood #7-12 - Cullen Bunn #13-17 Moon Knight Vol.8 (2016): - Jeff Lemire #1-14 - Max Bemis #188-200

With this simple list you would be set to understand the show and the newest run. You would be confused but not THAT confused you know? This is a crazy world, so you will always feel like you are missing something, but in a sense that’s part of the fun, being just as clueless as Marc is just part of the ride.

Also! Just today another run involving Marc has come out!

Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood by Jonathan Hickman.

I hope this is a good list, I am by no means an expert or anything though, there might be others that consider other routes and those are valid too! I hope you have fun and enjoy meeting Marc Spector, Steven Grant and Jake Lockley!

The show is superb, so if you want to watch that on its own, I would absolutely recommend it! It is six episodes long and is now complete so all the answers will be there in the “watch next episode” button!

#moon knight #marc spector #steven grant #jake lockley #moon knight series #mr knight #marvel

[oosteven-universe]

Black Terror #01

Black Terror #01 Dynamite Entertainment 2019 Written by Max Bemis Illustrated by Matt Gaudio Coloured by Brittany Pezzillo Lettered by Taylor Esposito     Bob Benton has settled into his “boring” life of being a pharmacist. A daily routine, a co-worker he has a crush on…these are the things that keep him happy. But creeping below the surface are his memories of being a hero. Struggling against his urges to fight crime, he is suddenly sent down a path he thought he had left behind, wanting…needing to be a vigilante, ready to once again punch crime in the face and become the Black Terror!     Well the opening here is something else and I love seeing how Max kind of sums up his life like this. There's a reason for it too but you'll have to read this to see what I mean but I am really impressed with what I am seeing. Alright I am already going off-script here too because when we hit the second page I have questions such as did his formulae stop him from ageing? As well as why wasn't this meant to fit in with any other's continuity? So Bob is the original there is no updating or passing the mantle though we have no word if it's just he who's not aged or his former sidekick hasn't either. See so many questions, I love being engaged this way and this early it just reinforces Max's skill and talent as a writer and that the character himself is strong enough to carry the book.     I love the way that this is being told. I know Max has some good credits when it comes to writing and there hasn't been a book of his I haven't liked. Plus there's his music which he is awfully talented with as well, which I listen to now more than ever and I have a wee crush on him. Now back to the book, at first I was a little distracted with what we were seeing from Bob but as Max interjected his life, his feelings and the overall way we get to know him, much like in Max's real life, we see that he's a complex man with a myriad of issues that he's open with himself about.     The story & plot development here as we see the information being released is presented really grabs the reader and keeps them intently reading the book. The character development is astounding and the complexity of the characters and how things about are revealed is first class. When the pacing picks it all up and keeps moving things forward we see the twists and turns coming at us and a whole new world exploding from an unexpected source. The whole thing is captivating in the way it's layered and how the reader gets to see it and there's no denying the power within this storytelling.     Matt and Brittany do some absolutely amazing comic book style artwork on the interiors here. I mean the linework is sensational and the little details like the stubble on Bob's face or the design in Sheila's dress under the lab coat these are things that most reader see subconsciously and unwittingly make this big impact. I am enamoured with the way the linework creates this individual people and how we see hands or sweat and every other thing in this book. Also can we see him naked more I mean eating cereal in his tighty whitey's with a fur patch on his chest it's perfect. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an incredible eye for storytelling. The colour work is marvellous and there are plenty of stand out moments. The way that hues and tones within a colour are utilised to create shading, shadows and even define musculature is so well done. ​     If this what the run is going to look under these creators thumbs then here's hoping this isn't a limited series and it's an ongoing. I would love to see it pass that 14 issue mark the last ongoing had. Plus with this kind of writing, characterisation and story development this is something that can bring back the Black Terror as a modern (well 1970's modern) hero that is so relatable to by pretty much ever single human being. Haven't picked it up yet? Call your shop or get online to your service because this is gonna be the event you don't wanna miss.

#comic books #comics reviews #dynamite entertainment #max bemis #matt gaudio #brittany pezzillo #taylor esposito

[davidmann95]

Best comics of 2018?

A handful of disqualifications up front: since they’re just beginning, I’m not counting Electric Warriors, Martian Manhunter, The Green Lantern (though Evil Star explaining his name in #2 might be my favorite moment in comics this year), Ironheart, DIE, Shazam!, Killmonger, The Batman Who Laughs, or Miles Morales: Spider-Man, all of which almost certainly would have ended up somewhere in here with some more time. Additionally, I switched to a new online pull list system in March, so I don’t have a list of what I got before then - if I’m forgetting about something great that came out early this year, there’s a good chance that would be why.

Honorary Mentions: While there were plenty of comics I was happy to keep up with, a number stood out as exemplary examples of straight-take relatively traditional capeshit: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and companies’ Justice League, Steve Orlando’s Justice League of America (which would probably go among the best of the best if the art was a bit more consistent or the lineup more to my personal tastes), Brian Bendis and Nick Derington’s Batman work in the Walmart 100-Page Giants, Donny Cates’ Thanos and Doctor Strange work (the latter might not have quite made it, but that last issue with Irving and Zdarsky was gangbusters), Steve Orlando’s brief Wonder Woman run with Laura Braga, ACO, and Raul Allen, Tim Seeley’s Green Lanterns, Nnedi Okorafor and Leonardo Romero’s Shuri, Robert Vendetti and Bryan Hitch’s Hawkman, Saladin Ahmed, Javier Rodriguez, Rod Reis, Dario Brizuela, and Joe Quinones’s Exiles, Captain America by both the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee team and the current Ta-Nehisi Coates/Lenil Francis Yu lineup, Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti’s Tony Stark: Iron Man when it’s committed solely to being a superhero comic and not Dan Slott trying to be Contemporary, Brian Bendis, Patrick Gleason, Yanick Paquette, and Ryan Sook’s Action Comics, and Kelly Thompson and Stefano Caselli’s West Coast Avengers. 

On the slightly different side of things, Steve Orlando and Giovanni Timpano showed how you do an intercompany crossover right with The Shadow/Batman, Max Bemis’s Moon Knight while not living up to all it could have been - and likely to age poorly - had moments of truly bizarre grace, Saga was Saga even if I’ve lost the plot, Ahmed and Christian Ward’s Black Bolt concluded as well as we all might have hoped, Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt’s The Wild Storm continued to build up steam in its own fascinating style, Doomsday Clock remains utterly captivating in spite of itself, and Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle’s The Wrong Earth is making the most of a deceptively tough premise. On the one-off end, Chip Zdarsky and Declan Shalvey’s Marvel Two-In-One Annual is an essentially perfect off-kilter Doom/Richards story, Action Comics #1000 had no chance of living up to all it needed to be but was largely a great set of Superman stories regardless, and while the remainder of the miniseries has thus far been fine, Tim Seeley and Carlos Villa’s first issue of Shatterstar was a strange, special delight.

My Favorite Comics of 2018

Rock Candy Mountain: Technically Jackson - the rail-rider who can beat Any One Man in a fistfight - reached the end of his journey for hobo heaven this year, and flat-out, every Kyle Starks comic is a perfect one. This is a book where the first issue has a dude beating ass with a beautiful savagery that leaves an awestruck onlooker declaring “He’s got punch diarrhea and their faces are the toilet bowl”, and by the end it built up to one of the most moving climaxes of the year. It’s a comic about fallen men finding redemption in friendship and in dreams, and also there’s a cage fighter who calls himself Hundred Cats because it would be really hard to fight a hundred cats.

Dark Knights: Metal: This is the final, perfected form of traditional Event Comic Bullshit. Everything good about Snyder, Capullo, Glapion, and Plascencia’s Batman post-Court Of Owls is retooled and reenergized to fit the scale of a Crisis event, everything that I would have considered to be a weakness regarding their partnership either burned away or placed in a context where it becomes a strength. This is the Morrison approach to the DCU rightfully ascendant and presented in a form even more fit for mass consumption, and manages to live up to being the first classic-style, large-scale DC event comic in almost a decade - Marvel may blow its own load every six months until it’s simply got nothing to offer anymore, but DC waited until they really and truly had something, and that something was bloodsoaked magic.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man (by Chip Zdarsky and assorted artists): I actually wavered a bit on whether this belonged in the best of the best as a whole; most of the issues this year were definitely very good (regarding Zdarsky’s run specifically, I haven’t checked out the Spider-Geddon tie-in stuff), but more on the honorary mention end of the scale. Ultimately however, the Amazing Fantasy arc and #310 are Spider-Man comics I’m going to be coming back to for years to come - the latter is going to end up in every ‘Best Spider-Man Stories Ever’ softcover from now until the end of time - and they tipped the scales.

Batman: Very much in the same boat as Spidey above; a lot of this year didn’t do it for me in the same way as this run has in the past, but The Best Man is the best thing anyone’s done with Joker since Morrison, the ‘wedding issue’ itself worked really well for me, Cold Days made a premise that’s often stymied creators work as well as people have always wanted it to, and the Dick team-up issue was a perfect little summation of a relationship, nevermind how much this year succeeded in getting me hyped up for things to come.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: This is one of those comics where it’s so consistently good in such a specific, quiet way that people stop talking about it, but for real, this has never not in the top five or six things Marvel is publishing at any given time for as long as it’s been around. Erica Henderson leaving right before hitting the Kraven story that had been building literally since its first issue 3 years earlier could have been disastrous, but North and new artist Derek Charm manage to hit their own rhythm and continue delivering one of the funniest, cleverest, most sincere superbooks on the stands every month.

Mister Miracle: Yeah, it really was that good.

The Immortal Hulk: So is this, and if I have to name a single best comic of the year, this has probably gotta be it. Al Ewing’s been Marvel’s best creator for a long, long time, and putting him and Joe Bennett (who holy moley, I don’t think anyone would have guessed had this in him) on a tentpole character Ewing’s got genuine reverence for worked out even better than a fanboy like me might have expected. It’s sublime horror, it’s perfect Marvel comics continuity bullshit, and if the superhero is at heart a morality fable, this is very much a soul-searing apex of the genre as it speaks of how we can all go wrong.

Eternity Girl: …or maybe this is the best? It’s probably gotta be this, Hulk, or Miracle. Mister Miracle’s where the comparison really becomes clear, as they’re both books way out on the fringes of the DCU dealing with a character grappling with depression amidst the mundanity of their cyclical existence. However, as perfectly constructed and rawly human as Mister Miracle is, this hits a lot more of my own buttons and expresses its own brand of more surreal emotional authenticity, and rather than the expected and beautiful next step of a pair of already-acclaimed creators with an established partnership, this was a shock coming out party for Visaggio and Liew, who do things stylistically just as odd to see in a DC Comic as anything King and Gerads came up with. It seemed to sail under the radar for readers but also seems to be racking up awards, and I hope this’ll attain the reputation it deserves in years to come.

Ice Cream Man: Likely the respectable fourth place to the three above, while I can’t quite sing its praises in quite the same way when it’s playing so hard-to-get that I can’t quite put a pin in what it’s ultimately about, oh my GOD this is as good as gut-punch horror gets. Not simply grody shock-value stuff, but pit-of-your-stomach-everything-in-the-world-hates-you-and-you-were-wrong-to-ever-believe-in-love shit that’ll rattle your bones and fuck you up good. Not usually a horror guy myself, but this is an essentially perfect comic.

The Man Of Steel: Screw all y’all, this kicked ass and after how hard the Rebirth books blew it - Jon and the new status quo were both excellent, Tomasi had good bits here and there alongside some quality fill-in teams, but those books were still aaaaaaaaaaassssss - this is exactly the fresh start Superman’s needed for years. Granted the Fabok interstitials had some wonky pacing, but this was on-point and insightful for Superman as a character, exciting as hell, and has thus far led to nothing but more good comics as far as I’m concerned.

Milk Wars: Did the various tie-ins live up to the bookends? Nah, though the Shade/Wonder Woman story was pretty good. But those bookends? Friends, those books were AAA+ sup-per-he-ro-bull-SHIT, and while I was initially let down because it seemed as though it would have Superman in a major role and then didn’t, this is even more of an apotheosis of the Morrison approach to the genre than Metal. ACO is ACO, Eaglesham slaughtered it, and Orlando and Way should be as joined at the hip as cowriters as Abbnett and Lanning used to be. This is a gold standard for strange, edgy, colorful, wondrous, fucked-up superhero comics, and there should be a million more like it every day.

Justice League (by Christopher Priest and assorted artists, primarily Pete Woods): On the exact opposite end of the scale, while I don’t think I can say I enjoyed this book as much as the current Snyder-helmed gonzo cosmic adventures, I absolutely feel this was the better of the two. More importantly, this run is the successful version of what just about every other Justice League comic of the past 15 years has been trying and failing to be as the post-Authority, post-Ultimates, post-Civil War take on the concept. It’s as smart and atmospheric and bold as a book like Justice League ever CAN be, building its exploration of the conceptual stress points of the team around one and two-part adventures and clever character dynamics, illustrating an interesting new take on how to handle the main team book with the power players: taking their ability to handle physical threats as a relative given, a structural conceit acting as a delivery mechanism for the politics and people in play. It hardly breaks new ground in terms of redefining the superhero concept, but it’s as far as they’ve gone with the marquis characters without ending in disaster, and it’s an approach I’d love to see more often applied to this scale.

Superman: Walmart 100 Page Giant (by Tom King and Andy Kubert): Of all the places for King to do a regular Superman comic, huh? Still, we’d already seen what he’d done in that Batman two-parter and Action #1000, so I’m more than willing to take what we can get (even if most are going to have to wait for this to come out in trade). There have been four installments so far: the first is the sort of stage-setting that’s common to this type of long-form arc but with a distinctly different atmosphere than how this is typically done with the character, evoking a sort of Miller-tinged Golden Age flavor connecting Superman back down to Earth before throwing him into the stars. The third is a great Fuck Yeah Superman Doin’ Superman Shit throwdown that gives Kubert a chance to shine. The fourth and most recent is haunting, inspired, moving, and tight as a drum. And the second begins as the worst-case scenario of Tom King doing a Superman comic, and ends as likely my favorite Superman story of the last 5 years. If it continues in its current direction, Superman: Up In The Sky is almost certainly going to be a perennial people are going to rank among the best Superman stories of all time for decades to come, and everything I’d want out of this team tackling my favorite character.

Detective Comics (by James Tynion IV and assorted artists): I’m honestly surprised at myself for putting this here, but I just have to hand it to this run - which had to go quite a ways to win me over, between its opening gambit with Batwoman’s status quo and centering the whole thing around my least-favorite Robin (even if it won me over to him over time) - as basically being the platonic form of Dang Good Superhero Comics. Not boundary-pushing, not the sort of thing you’ll remember in 20 years, but just really fun, exciting, good-looking, slick, character-driven adventures building on themselves into the logical culmination of 21st century popular Batman stories. This is Batman 101, but in a good way, and I honestly think that on reflection it’s gonna hold together better as a Batman run than its immediate predecessor in Snyder/Capullo.

You Are Deadpool: This is the smartest, funniest, most inventive big two comic of the year and even if you’re so tired of Deadpool that your skull bones are threatening to suddenly contract and spear your brain in an attempt at saving your weary soul from the prospect of seeing any more of him, you should get this.

Superman (by Brian Bendis and Ivan Reis): I noted Action Comics among the honorable mentions, as while it’s a dang good comic that I enjoy a great deal - and Ryan Sook may well have established himself as my ideal modern Superman artist - it’s very much the best possible version of *exactly* what you’d expect from Brian Bendis doing Superman. This, on the other hand, feels like Bendis stretching himself to do something truly different in a way he hasn’t in years, and the results are stunning. I won’t pretend Rogol Zaar has amounted to much of anything as of yet, but Bendis has acclimated to the realm of Cosmic Superman Punch-Ups in a way no one could have reasonably seen coming; he’s managed to sidestep his usual issues by anchoring each issue in a crazy setpiece and a single perfect Superman character moment, and Reis is doing work here than can unquestionably stand alongside his Sinestro Corps War heyday. Whether it’s #1 having Superman fight an astro-goilla in the middle of a questioning on his responsibilities to humanity, #4 going full Shonen in the best possible way with probably my favorite fight scene of the year, or #6′s storybook mythmaking building to the best, cruelest needle in the balloon possible, or the consistent delightful fucking with Adam Strange, every issue here has something I didn’t know I badly wanted to see, and damn if that isn’t exactly what I want in my Superman stuff.

Assorted one-offs: Along with the major arcs and runs, we’ve got stuff like the Thanos Annual and DC Nuclear Winter Special, as good as anthologies of this kind get. T-shirt Superman got one last ride under Morrison in the Sideways Annual, fighting his way out from under the wreckage of a weird DiDio book to get exactly the sendoff he deserved. The Injustice 2 Annual, of all things, was a perfect piece of bittersweet character work. Invincible #144 satisfyingly closed out The Best Superhero Comic In The Universe by essentially also doing Invincible #145-500 or so, putting this often tumultuous title to bed with the dignity it had earned. And finally, Slott and Marcos Martin’s The Amazing Spider-Man #801 was a perfect minor mediation not even on the title character so much as the basic moral appeal of the genre as a whole.

#Comics #DC Comics #Marvel #Image #Opinion

[oosteven-universe]

Black Terror #02

Black Terror vol.2 #02 Dynamite Entertainment 2019 Written by Max Bemis Illustrated by Ruairí Coleman Coloured by Brittany Pezzillo Lettered by Taylor Esposito     The Black Terror faces his most dangerous foe yet…HIPPIES! A young woman finds herself in the midst of a cult led by a man who claims he can give them all incredible abilities. Find out their link to the Black Terror and their sordid key to their powers!     Oh there is something about the way that Max writes that always attracts me to his work. The fact that some of the most interesting writers in comics today are musicians who write music as well and they understand how to create a flow, a hook and that something which keeps the reader/audience not only on the edge but wanting more. It is something that is so similar in style and to be write both ways is just simply amazing to me.     This story grabs me right away and the two characters that we see and this conversation that they are having is like a punch in the gut. It's strong, powerful opening that draws you in and makes you want to see and know more. This is precisely what it's meant to do and it does it perfectly. The story & plot development that we see here with the way we see the sequence of events and how the book is structured is so incredibly well done. How the reader learns information and how that affects how we see the things in front of us is interesting to me. With the character development here I was pleasantly surprised with one fact but the way these characters stood out is amazing. With the pacing taken into account we see how the twists & turns appear and how they change the course of the ebb & flow of the book.     I really appreciate the way Max is able to blend real life situations into this bizarre super-hero story. Showing us what greed and thirst for power can do to an individual and what it means to be a sheeple, not questioning anything but blindly following along is powerful thing to be able to do. There are times that you forget this is a comic book and in those moments where you are so fully engaged in the story and in your mind and intertwining the two this is when you subconsciously realise the power of storytelling and what it can do.     The interiors here are marvellously rendered. The linework is beautiful and how we see the varying weights in them utilised to bring out the attention to detail is wonderful to see. I really like how we see the different body types and ethnicities of these folks making us feel like it's just a natural gathering of people. I like the way we see the composition inside the panels so we see the depth perception and scale brought about so naturally. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a really beautiful eye for storytelling. The way we see backgrounds being utilised are a 50/50 split for me I would like to see more of them in use but how we see them is isn't bad too. The colour work here is pretty gorgeous to see. I really do like the way we see the varying hues and tones that create the shading, I mean wow that's some mad skills throughout the issue here. ​     Max takes this opportunity to put his spin on tale that has The Black Terror on the sidelines and yet he's instrumental to everything that occurs. Max may downplay his own abilities or smarts but this is extremely well done and it has these beautiful layers to the story where we see their currents flowing into their actions affecting the mainstream story arc. This is the work of someone who understands what they are doing on such a magnificent level. Come join the party and see what it is I am raving about.

#comic books #comic review #dynamite entertainment #max bemis #ruairi coleman #brittany pezzillo