Indie Corner - 03/25/2015

Each week I'll spotlight a couple independent books I've read and may have flown under people's radar.

SAGA 26

I love this series, so I find it especially surprising that it's taken me this long to read the latest issue.  Goes to show just how into my other project I'd become.  That said, I can't actually talk about much that happens here.  It's all incremental progression of what's come before, so my summary would wind up being longer than if you just read the issue yourself.  Which you should, because it's quite good.  Not as great as some issues, but my heart didn't break this time... maybe just stepped on by that last page.

Also, this issue features the results of the latest Saga Reader Survey, which are also definitely worth the read.

Chrononauts 1

CHRONONAUTS 1

Have you read Remender and Scalera's Black Science?  This is like that, only as told by Millar and Murphy.  Science jerks dicking around with things better left alone and quickly being shown the error of their ways.  Scalera and Murphy are two of my favorite artists right now, so we'll all good there.  The main difference is in Millar's more straightforward storytelling.  I like a good deal of Remender's work, but Black Science never sat right with me.  Chrononauts, so far, has great character development for the two leads and being an excellent read on top of that.  I have very little to say except that I look forward to the rest of the series.

EI8HT 2

While reading the first issue, I kept flipping back to the table at the inside front cover depicting which color corresponds to which time period.  I didn't do that as much this issue.    While the book doesn't give us much more in the way of explaining what's going on, who all these characters are, or why they're doing what they do, it has managed to capture my attention enough that I'll give it a few more issues before considering whether to drop it from my pull.

SPREAD 6

This issue brings out dysfunctional family trip to town to an end.  There's blood, severed body parts, last second escapes, reversals, more blood, and a last page surprise that trumps anything this series has shown us to date.  I still love every time No opens says anything, Jack is hilarious, and Molly is amazing.  I hope this series runs for a long time.

Bonus: There's an 8-page Luther Strode short at the back that takes place between Legend and Legacy.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 43

This issue is wall-to-wall action as Krang defends Burnow Island from the invading Shredder, mutants fight rock soldiers, Baxter makes his move, Old Hob and his gang blast their way into Foot headquarters, Splinter fights Karai, the Turtles break into the Technodrome, and more that would be spoiling!  Despite the sheer number of things happening this issue, these are all long-running storylines, dovetailing in exciting ways.  None of it's confusing or disjointed; it all makes perfect sense.

The question that interests me most is what happens next?  There are so many moving pieces, so many storylines ending or changing direction, I have no idea what this series will look like once this arc is over.  It's an amazing feeling and I very much look forward to enjoying the ride.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 44

A few days ago I couldn't imagine how this story arc was going to end.  Now, I don't want to believe it.  This is truly heart-breaking, much worse than that issue of Saga a few months back.

Everything wrapped up, though most of the storylines morphed in unexpected ways, giving us a new status quo that we won't fully understand until at least next issue.

Chew v9

CHEW v9

I'd read about some major things happening in recent issues and am pleased to have avoided spoilers until I was able to read this for myself.  Indeed, major things happen here.  Things that would be much darker if not for the title's usual comedic flair.  I'm not going to talk about any of it, except to say that I loved every second of it.  Even when trying it's hardest to enrage or sadden me.

Once the series is closer to the finish, I'll likely start picking up the issues to avoid both spoilers and the excruciating wait.  I did the same with Locke & Key and that worked out well.

SAMURAI JACK 17

A surprisingly quick end to the Master of Time story, but it ended like I expected.  Unlike the Threads of Time story arc that started this series, The Master of Time was a pretty clear hoax from the outset... at least to the audience.  Still, from it, we get a fun adventure story.  An extra bit of Jack before the series concludes at issue 20.  I'll take it.  Next month: more familiar faces!

CONAN RED SONJA 3

Conan and Red Sonja are together at the start of the issue, so they don't have the typical "meeting" scene like the previous issues.  However, the "fight each other" and "team-up" are still just as present as ever.  It might sound like I'm putting this issue down, but it's actually decidedly better than the second issue.  Sins of the past catch up to our heroes, and now they must pay the price.  I'll be glad when this series wraps up next issue.  Four issues seems like the right number to tell a story without artificially dragging things out.  That said, I would have enjoyed a longer run if it were better written.

THE LIFE AFTER 7 & 8

I've been a bit behind on my reading, if you haven't noticed.  Being sick this week has helped me catch up on some of my reading, including these two issues.

Issue 7 fills in more of the backstory while advancing the middle-management plot and moving our two main leads to a different section of the afterlife.  Issue 8 is largely those same leads coming to terms with their new setting.  The title is as wild as ever, and I'm loving every second of it.  I will make absolutely certain to read issue 9 the week it comes out, instead of putting it in a pile at the edge of my desk for a month.

MUTANIMALS 1 & 2

If you haven't listened to me so far, about how great the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series from IDW is, you're probably not going to care about one of its mini series.  Maybe you're still reading this because of the recent press related to Donatello.  In that case, let me just say that each mini series always winds up tying back into the main series.  Here, we've got a mutant cat (Old Hob) and his single-minded vendetta against businesses that experiment on mutants.  Simmering under that is the building clash between Hob and fifth mutant turtle Slash.  That will very likely come to a head in this series, and I expect some long-term ramifications from however it shakes out.

Bunker 10

BUNKER 10

We're thrown a couple curves this issue, as none of our usual cast are present, or series artist Joe Infurnari.  What we get is a day in the life of a couple in the future, drawn by Brahm Revel.  It's both well written and drawn, quickly making us care about the lives of these two characters we've never met and seemingly have no connection to the known cast.

With the next issue coming in two months, this may be a good time to switch reading the series over to trades.  There's a lot to keep track of as it is, and the gaps between issues don't help.

RASPUTIN 5

Well, I don't know what to make of that.

The weird, disjointed adventures of a young Rasputin apparently come to an end with this issue, as the back of the book seemingly sets up a future series.  I, for one, am calling it quits.  I want to like this series more than I actually do, and it time to came to terms with that.

Rossmo, whose work I've enjoyed since Rebel Blood, will be working with Ming Doyle on the upcoming Hellblazer relaunch.  So I'll be dropping this and picking that up instead.

Indie Corner - 02/11/2015

Each week I'll spotlight a couple independent books I've read and may have flown under people's radar.

ABE SAPIEN v5

I was all set to complain about this book... until the end.  This marks the third volume of Abe wandering around the country and while reading I realized I really miss the old Abe.  Old Abe was a man of action.  New Abe is unsure of what he's doing, where he's going, and generally aimless.  But as I said, at the end of the book, Abe gets yelled at by a new character and I think (hope!) it's the push he needed.

The first few issues here are fairly stand-alone, well-written, and interesting on their own, but served as a reminder that Abe has spent far too many issues just walking.  Interesting characters and events come and go, but aren't satisfactorily explored.  Almost everyone Abe encounters is more interesting than he is here, and that's a serious problem.  I hope to see more of these characters and I really hope Abe busts out of this slump.

Wytches 4

WYTCHES 4

Last week was such a huge haul of comics I wasn't able to write anything about this book before the column went up Monday morning.  Even now, I'm writing this Sunday afternoon because I'm not sure what I want to say or how I felt about it.

When I wrote about the last issue of Wytches, I mentioned how the step-by-step art process shown at the back of the book made me dislike the art.  I thought the art looked better at an earlier stage, before some of the final colors were placed.  Time has softened that somewhat, but the colors are something I remain aware of more than usual.

The story is definitely still creepy and weird, but between the scene at the coast and the other at the ferris wheel, it felt weird for the wrong reasons - disjointed.  The last page alone ensures I'll keep reading, but I don't hold this series in as high a regard as I once did.

HABIBI

I bought this years ago, based on the strength of Blankets, Thompson's previous work.  It's spent the intervening years on a shelf because the size of the book was a little daunting.  In reality, it's a much faster read than it appears, taking about a week of bedtime reading to finish.  On one of the first nights, I wife walks in and asks what I'm reading.  She sees the title and author's name while I'm trying to find the words to describe the strange combination of religion, language, and children forced to grow up too quickly.  She goes, "Sounds like a white guy."  I say, "He is!  And the book is definitely about the desert..."  That essentially sums up my issue with the book - it's good, but it doesn't feel like Thompson should be the one to tell it.  It's hard to recommend, but definitely worth checking out for the art.

CONAN/RED SONJA 2

Last time I joked that this pairing followed the traditional superhero crossover formula of meet, fight, and team-up.  Still, I enjoyed it enough to ask my comic shop to grab the rest of the series for me.  Well, the joke is wearing a little thin now.  An indeterminate amount of time has passed between the first issue and this one, but once again Conan and Red Sonja meet, fight, and team-up.  Other than that, I don't really have much to say... the characters are decently written, the art is well-suited to the characters, but the story is rather thread-bare.  I'll still pick up the rest of the series, but I can't recommend it any longer.  Hopefully the next two issues are better than this one.

GHOST FLEET 4

I'm making this my last issue of Ghost Fleet.  Things got weird, and not in a, "This new wrinkle will be interesting to see play out." kind of way, but instead a, "WTF is even happening?" way.  Until now, I thought this series was a pretty standard heist/revenge story with a little Ronin or Pulp Fiction thrown in for not knowing what's in the stolen truck.  This issue we learn more about our two main characters Cohle and Trace, but the center of this issue appears to be a hallucination or metaphysical event that significantly alters things.  In a book that was hardly explaining itself to begin with, this new mystery is one too many.

Indie Corner - 01/21/2015

Each week I'll spotlight a couple independent books I've read and may have flown under people's radar.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 42

Krang!  Shredder!  The Turtles!  Hob!  Stockman!  Fugitoid!  This issue features nearly every member of the cast, as everyone's plans come into figurative, if not literal, conflict.  Judging by the events of this issue and the cover to the next issue, there should be at least three major slugfests next issue... but there are a few notable absences.  Hun is on the cover but not in the issue.  Casey is similarly absent.  Could Alopex and Nobody be aces up someone's sleeve?  I hope so, because neither is on the scene yet and I'm sure they'll be needed somewhere soon.  Rat King puts in an appearance for one flashback panel, just long enough to remind me we haven't seen Kitsune in a while.  Everything we know is happening or about to happen is explosive enough, but factoring in the remaining characters means the scales could tip in anyone's favor.  There's a reason I can't stop talking about this series, and it's because this title is consistently great.

Zombies vs Robots 01

ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS 1

So here's a surprise: the usual comic backmatter actually shows up on page 13.  Page 12 ends with "to be continued...", Page 13 is the backmatter, and I hadn't even hit the staples at the center of the book yet.  In a move that certainly surprised this reader, this issue is actually three short comics set in the Zombies vs Robots world.  Two writers, three artists.  I dig it.  The "backmatter" I mentioned earlier explains what came before and how this series came about.  It was rather informative since I haven't read any of the previous series.  The actual back of the book lists those previous series, including ISBNs, for easy ordering.  Which I think I'll do.  To sum up: humanity is dead, robots fight zombies for control of the Earth.  This is what happens next.

THE AUTUMNLANDS: TOOTH & CLAW 3

I read this yesterday and have been struggling to figure out what to say about this issue.  I enjoyed it, so there's that.  It's mostly a picking-up-the-pieces issue for our cast.  A city fell out of the sky in the first issue and everyone's still recovering from that, trying to figure out what to do next.  It feels a tiny bit like Walking Dead since everyone is trying to find shelter, food, supplies, and generally survive to see tomorrow.  The Champion decides he'll play along, even if he does think all these animals are a dream.  It's good, and I think I might be in it for the long haul.

CONAN/RED SONJA 1

The only Conan I've read is the Brian Wood series, which I generally enjoyed.  The only Red Sonja I've read was the free first issue I got from Comixology last December that I haven't talked about yet.  When this series was first announced, I thought, "Great!  People love Gail Simone writing Red Sonja and I enjoy Brian Wood writing Conan!"  Then Brian wasn't working on it anymore, and I really didn't hear anything else until the book was out.  I use all of that as preface because I don't actually have much to say about the book itself.  It's well written and looks gorgeous.  The title characters meet, team-up, and fight as per the standard rules of engagement of any crossover.  I'll be picking up the rest of the series and would recommend you do the same if you're a fan of either character.

INVINCIBLE 116

This is a pretty quiet issue, checking in with various characters and the new status quo of Earth given the events of the previous arc.  I found the conversation with The Immortal particularly interesting, and am glad to see Mark knows himself well enough to come to the decision he does at the end of the issue.

I had this whole other paragraph planned and partially written, speculating about upcoming events.  But I decided to scrap it.  When it comes to Kirkman, my speculation is never accurate.  He always manages to surprise me and come up with something even better than I expected.  I await whatever new amazing, and likely horrific, story elements will follow.

P.S. It's a little weird seeing Bulletproof still wearing Invincible's costume.  What's up with that?

RUMBLE 2

I can't tell you what happens in this issue.  A few of my reviews this week include the line "not much happens."  That's not the case here.  The story gets moved forward, but there's so much vagueness and weirdness that I can barely tell you what happened.  Ordinarily, that might be seen as a negative.  In this case, I love it.  The script is full of humor, and the art is amazing.  I could look at this all day.  I'm primarily familiar with Arcudi and Harren from their work on B.P.R.D., a series which is consistently great, and Harren drew two of my favorite stories.  He conveys a sense of movement and speed exceptionally well, but everything looks awesome.  Anyone even remotely interested should pick up the first issue to check it out.

SAMURAI JACK 16

Samurai Jack is definitely written for the trade, with a trade equating to one or two TV episodes.  This is the beginning of a new arc, so the stage is set.. but otherwise, not much happens.  Still, this issue features the return of a favorite character of mine (probably a genuine fan favorite, but I don't have confirmation on that).  It should be a really fun arc, though I think the end is pretty obvious from the outset.  Still enjoying it, still recommending it for anyone that was a fan of the show.

SPREAD 5

This issue is a turning point in the series, and all the characters know it even while it's happening.  As if things were bad enough before, they'll be worse once this present situation is resolved.  That situation?  The big multi-faction everyone-versus-everyone that started last issue is still going here and will continue into at least into next issue.  It is, in just about every way, worse now than it was at the end of last issue.  Which is to say, this issue was fantastic, and I can't hardly wait until the next one.

THE WICKED AND THE DIVINE 7

Not much happens this issue, but just as it was with Trees, it's the WAY not much happens that counts.  While I love the way Gillen and McKelvie tell this story, the story itself is getting a little tired.  I sincerely hope this whole Luci thing doesn't stretch out for the next two years of comic-time, because it frankly doesn't have the legs to support it.  That said, Laura continues to be amazing and the gods continue to be fairly uninteresting assholes.  Luci was great but she's gone now.  I'm really going to need someone or something else to care about, and quickly.

WILD BLUE YONDER 6

It all ends here.  Most of the issue is a giant firefight between various types of aircraft and airborne people, with bullets flying and things exploding on just about every page.  There is a brief origin story, or sorts, and a brief epilogue, but again, most of the issue is taken up by the fight that's been brewing since the first issue.  It's intense mayhem, and I loved every second of it.  While the series was slow to come out as single issues, a collection is scheduled to come out real soon.  Anyone wanting to get into the series should try that route since it will likely be easier.  Meanwhile, I'll be looking forward to whatever these creators come up with next.