Monday, February 6, 2017

Last Week's Comics Today - 02/07/2016

Well this is awkward.  Some good books this week, but top honors goes to an ad?!

Pick of the Week
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Honorable Mention
The Wild Storm - This is not a comic (yet), but an extended ad that ran in the back of DC's books.  And one I liked enough to comment on.  I was a fan of WildStorm in the beginning and everything Ellis speaks of here - secret organizations, space programs, human experiments - continue to interest me while hitting all the right nostalgia notes.  Additionally, I'm a fan of probably half of Ellis' output, so this is right up my alley.  I'm really looking forward to this line and whatever he's got cooking.

Everything Else
DC Comics Bombshells #22 - There's a panel early on with Selina, Kate, Renee, and Vixen glowering at Hawkgirl and I think they might be as irritated with her as I was with her seven straight panels of soapboxing.  I'm kinda glad she gets shot outta that sky immediately after.  I made it a few more pages but can't finish this.  The heroes get captured and then it's Cheetah turn to parrot the writer's research.  I'm dropping this.  It's nowhere near as good as it used to be and hasn't been for a while.

Invincible #132 - I read this sitting across from my wife and made several exclamations while reading the events within.  My immediately Facebook post upon completion was "Fucking hell, Kirkman" and in the resulting comments discussed how Ottley would have drawn it both better and more gruesome.  For that, I am both thankful and sad.  Next issue starts the march toward the finale, so there's still roughly a year to get aboard this train before the ride is over.

Justice League #14 - The bulk of this issue takes place in a hole.  Various members of the league discuss things they should have gone over years ago immediately following their founding, and Superman throws Batman under a figurative bus as he deflects like a motherfucker.  Whatever else is in this category, just know that Justice League #14 is the worst of the bunch (Late note: not worse than Bombshells).

Moon Knight #11 - This title continues to be a fantastic read told with incredible art and a story that's difficult to succinctly summarize.  Marc Spector (or is it Jake?  Or Steven?) continues to grapple with his own mental state and the possible machinations of gods.  It is, as always, highly recommended.

Paper Girls #11 - I don't have much to say about the events of this issue, but that last page is a real nice kicker.  I'm glad this is back.  It's good, in case you were wondering.

Planetoid Praxus #1 - It's really nice to revisit Ken Garing's Planetoid.  Note: You don't have to read the first series to understand anything that's happening here.  There's enough of a recap to get you up to speed with the major players and idiosyncrasies of the place.  That said, it's a good read.  I don't know the sales figures of the original series, but can't imagine they were good.  So I'm extremely glad Praxus exists and hope more people check it out.

The Spirit: Corpse Makers #1 - I love Francavilla.  Between his work on Batman, Archie, and Black Beetle, I'll be interested in anything his guy does for life.  Him on The Spirit makes perfect sense.  Unfortunately, this isn't as good as Black Beetle.  I mean, obviously, this isn't complete so there's that, but a couple storylines are started and by the end a few are starting to converge.  Of note, there's a couple pieces of dialogue that threw me.  Contractions that were separate words, slang that's jarring.  Not enough to ruin the book, but it does lose some luster as a result.

Superman #16 - Multiplicity was over faster than I expected.  I just assumed it would be four.  That's what I get for not paying attention.  The Justice Incarnate bits were amazing, the antagonist alluded to things there were more interesting than he was, and everything was resolved with punching and laser eyes.  Kind of a mixed bag, but I'll chalk it up as a Win.  Hopefully we get back to the heart of the book - Clark, Lois and Jon next.

Transformers Lost Light #2 - Next issue promises we'll learn about rung's alt-mode and I have more to say about that than the events of this series.  Because what happens here relates to something this (roughly) same cast did in another series years ago.  Rung, I have long suspected, is a crucial piece of something larger - like a combiner, only not.  I used to think he was a trigger, but a lever works too, or even - gasp - a rung!  I don't know how that last one works out either.  I guess we'll find out!

Walking Dead #163 - This is the first issue I've read since #100.  Not that I found anything specific in #100 to turn me off the series, just the general sense that bad things would continue to happen to everyone and I didn't need that negativity in my life.  It's a good series, but can be pretty heavy.  I grabbed this because it was $0.25 and to see whether I should get back into it. What I found was that this issue is the start of a fairly significant event, and I no longer care about any of these characters.  Thanks, but I'll just stick with Invincible.

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