Happy new comic book week! It's the third week of DC's Future State event, and I have THREE of those issues broken down in my pull list! I'm also back to doing my Spotlights on Representation this week, because there is SO MUCH good representation coming out of this week's releases! Let's just jump into it--click any of the links to head to a section:
Spotlights on Representation: Future State: The Next Batman Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman Abbott 1973 Black Cat
…or Continue Reading for the whole post!
Spotlight: All-Star Representation: Future State: The Next Batman #2 by John Ridley, with Vita Ayala and Paula Sevenbergen!
There's a lot to take in this week in The Next Batman #2. First, of course, Oscar winning Black writer John Ridley continues his story of Batman--Tim Fox Batman. It's interesting that the story is playing out as a bit of a mystery as to Batman's identity, while DC has long-since confirmed it is Tim. In any case, Ridley's Batman is unlike any other, giving light to a whole different side of the caped crusader. Ridley is joined, this time, by artist Laura Braga, who is often known for her female characters, so I'm excited to see her stretch her artistic legs with a Batman book! Then, Vita Ayala writes a story about the BatGirlS, plural! This is Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brow , both who have been fan favorite Batgirls in the past, now teaming up to do the job together. Ayala is a nonbinary Afro-Latinx writer, so their unique perspective tends to be a welcome breath of fresh air in a very patriarchal industry. Ayala will be joined by Spanish female artist Aneke, who is a growing name in the industry, and another woman on the creative team of this issue! Finally, there is the Sirens story by Paula Sevenbergen and Emanuela Lupacchino! Sevenbergen was last seen on a single issue of Catwoman, which I remember being ridiculous, unnecessary fun--the perfect match for the Gotham City Sirens! As well as having female leads and female creators, the Sirens story ought to be interesting in that it m ight finally address Poison Ivy's sexuality, in that she's hella gay. Without friend-and-sometimes-lover Harley Quinn on the team, I'm really curious to find out how Sevenbergen will be characterizing some of my favorite DC ladies!
Spotlight: Women of Color and Writer of Color: Abbott 1973 #1 by Saladin Ahmed Sami Kivela
I feel a bit dumb for not having realized before a few days ago that Abbott 1973 is actually the second series of this character's world. The first series, titled simply Abbott, introduced audiences to the female journalist and the supernatural work she gets tied up in. The series was a major success, and was optioned by Paramount+, and will soon become a TV series! For his second run, Muslim writer Saladin Ahmed has journalist/detective Abbott back on the case--this time following a local political conspiracy, but one that will nonetheless get her into more supernatural trouble. I'm excited to read this second edition of the Abbott series, and can't wait to experience another well-written female character of color by Ahmed.
Spotlight: Female Everything: Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman "A Story" by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, and Jen Bartel; "B Story" by L.L. McKinney
There is a plethora of reasons to be excited for Immortal Wonder Woman #1 this week. The main story stars the original, Diana Prince, thousands of years into our future, written by Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad. Cloonan might be what you'd call a "goth" artist, tending to stick to dark tones and themes on her thick and recognizable linework. Her writing even sometimes gets that goth aspect to it, and the subjects she chooses to focus on tend to be overarching life lessons, often with a feminist/LGBTQ+ twist. Alongside Conrad, I can't wait to see what kind of world Cloonan builds for a future Wonder Woman. Additionally, Diana's story's interiors are drawn entirely by Korean-American artist Jen Bartel! Bartel has been a crows-favorite for years already, doing extremely minimal interiors while aligning herself to be known for high quality variant covers. Also an incredible business woman and professional of the industry, Bartel is doing her first DC interior work with this mini-series, too! It's more than enough reasons to pick up a few copies, and I'm not even done yet! The second story in the issue this week focuses on Nubia, Amazonian sister to Diana. Nubia is one of the few known Black characters from Themyscira, and a "deep cut" fan favorite. As a Black character at DC, however, she tends to not get her due representation. I'm thrilled, this week, to be able to say that this is no longer the case! With Black American writer L.L. McKinney taking the reigns, Nubia rides again this week as the new Wonder Woman! McKinney is a celebrated Black writer of "progressive" topics such as colored and queer representation, and I'm equally pumped about her Nubia story as I am Bartel/Cloonan/Conrad's Diana one. Like much of the rest of Future State, I'm not too sure how Nubia's Wonder Woman will fit into the future of DC comics, but I can only hope she'll be so successful, DC will have to keep her around. Don't miss this amazing issue!
Spotlight: Women in Charge: Black Cat #2 by Jed McKay and C.F. Villa
In addition to the other 3 spotlights this week, I want to talk about Black Cat because she's another well-written strong female character coming out of comics--and she isn't written by a woman! Jed McKay is technically on his second run of Black Cat, which I'm always hoping will go on longer than the last. In that series and this, he's done an excellent job of writing and characterizing Felicia strongly--that isn't to say she's a mass of muscle, but rather she's realistic with understandable motives, complex feelings, real-world relationships, and believable day-to-day. In other words, she's characterized very WELL. With a character like Felicia Hardy, it can be easy to fall into a habit of writing her just as a villain, but she's so much more than that, and I'm glad to see it on the page. McKay's writing of female characters with grace and thoughtfulness follows a trend of male writers finally "getting it" with their female leads, which includes Tom King and Christopher Cantwell. In Cantwell's Iron Man, Patsy Walker's Hellcat is going through some shit--again. She's gone through a lot of shit already, but most of Marvel history was spend ignoring her shit, until now, when she's facing that shit, and someone is finally holding her by the shoulders, telling her she can pull through. That final aspect is what matters; putting a character through hell is often an important part of their story, but Cantwell is remembering that Patsy's core is her relationships, and so he's giving her a relationship to lean on while she struggles with her personal hell. It's thoughtful, it's kind, and it's admirable.
Abbott 1973 #1
A new comic by Saladin Ahmed, Abbott 1973 stars a Misty-Knight-looking Black journalist who gets tied up in the middle of a conspiracy to stop the election of a Black mayor, and everything he represents. There is going to be a lot of supernatural, meaning magic, going on, and all the while, Elena Abbott is trying to fit in at a new Newspaper job. Ahmed is known for his unique and realistic characters of color, and this looks to be no exception. The series will be ongoing, as far as I can tell, with no March solicit yet. The first issue features variants by Jenny Frison (I DIE) and Raul Allen, both stunners.
I Breathed A Body #1
This new Indie series caught my eye because it's written by By Zac Thompson of Lonely Receiver. Lonely Receiver is just finishing up now, and is one of my favorite mini's of 2020, to boot. It's bizarre, original, and touched by the horror genre, which I fully expect to see replicated in this new series. The story is solicited to be about the morality of social media, modern technology, and "influencers," all categories that can be very ambiguous. We've all seen either Halt and Catch Fire or Silicon Valley, and we all know the true threat that subjects like those pose in real world situations. After reading what he had to say in Lonely Receiver about relationships and technology, I'm insanely excited to find out how Thompson will be handling these new subjects under a very different style.
Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #1
by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, and Jen Bartel. Bartel's first DC interior work. Then, a new team of DC creatives have a story of Nubia as Wonder Woman! The Immortal Wonder Woman main story will show Diana ages into the future, where most her friends, fellow heroes, and even Amazonian sisters are long gone. The solicitation says there will be a threat even Darkseid can't stop, and it's up the Diana Prince to take care of it. This explains a teaser Bartel put out on her socials a few weeks ago, featuring Big Barda. Whether she's fighting for Darkseid or alongside Diana against this new evil, I'm even more excited than ever to read this Future State issue.
Future State: Catwoman #1
Part of why I want this issue, to be honest, is to add the Artgerm variant to my Catwoman collection of his covers. He's drawn her on Batman once or twice, but he did a run of about sixteen variants for Catwoman starting in 2018. I collected most of these covers, avoiding a few that didn't appeal to me, and this new Future State version would be an excellent addition to my collection (catch that reference?)! Selina is depicted in an entirely new, far more cartoon-like way by Lau, and the contrast compared to the others will look excellent side-by side. Additionally, I'm really wondering what the heck is going on with Bruce and Selina! I'll get that partly answered by the time this issue comes out, in the Dark Detective mini, part one. But I'm curious to see things from Selina's POV, even though writer Ram V is VERY hit and miss with her current ongoing series. Either way, it'll be interesting to read where Catwoman takes herself in the coming decade.
Future State: The Next Batman #2
Though I greatly enjoyed (and wrote a lot about) John Ridley's Tim Fox Batman that premiered in the first issue of this mini, I have two other reasons to be excited for this #2--well, four. The first two are the interior stories about the Gotham City Sirens and the Batgirls--that's two stories, two Batgirls, and three Sirens, though Harley has been replaced by a another member. The other two reasons to be excited are the writers of those stories: Paula Sevenbergen, and Vita Ayala, respectively! Ayala was included in my "Reliable Writers of 2020" list, so it's thrilling to see them on a major project so early into the new year! A good sign for more to come, I hope. As for Sevenbergen, this will only be the second comic she's written for a big publisher, the other being Catwoman #22, the "Dust Bunnies" one-shot story with Aneke on art. I remember it being an entertaining, lighthearted story, so her style is likely going to be an excellent fit for the Gotham City Sirens. I'm dying of curiosity to see who this new Gotham Siren is! There have been teases of a robot named Siren taking her spot, but also of a robot revolution, so it's unclear as of yet. All I know for sure is that there is a mentally unstable sect of Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy romance "stans" that are going to lose their goddamned minds when they find out Harley isn't on the team, or really involved with Ivy that much at all. While I do want them to officially be a couple in the comics, these particular fans take things several miles too far, to the point of harassing creators.
Batman / Catwoman #2
Undoubtedly one of the best series' of the year, I can't wait to dig deeper into Tom King and Clay Mann's Batman/Catwoman! The first issue set a high bar, but one that I have no doubt this creative team will continue to surpass month after month. Last months premier issue left me with so many juicy questions: Will Helena save the Joker? What did he do to Andrea, besides kill her son? What happens to evolve Selina and Andrea's relationship like this, so that killing the Joker is the first think Selina does after Bruce's death? W're going to be seeing a lot more Helena starting in this issue, and I can't wait! The team has been more than clear of how they'll be writing this comics--much like a film. There's a lot to be taken from the art in context, and that's entirely left up to the reader to figure out. This isn't your Stan Lee comics with a page full of over-explanatory narration to hold your hand, this is a comic for the attentive reader. I mean all of that in the best way possible--comics are more than just words on a picture, and I love to read comics that fully explore all of what the medium can creatively allow. Batman/Catwoman sits squarely in that category.
Black Cat #2
A sigh of relief as Jed Mckay's Black Cat series continues in it's second numbering! Okay, so that last part isn't so great, but I'm trying to focus on being grateful Felicia is back in her own book! I'm not sure how long this Black Cat series will run, at least till issue #4, where the solicitation advertises a new plot-line for the series. Seeing as King in Black is meant to end at the end of March, I'm hoping that the fourth issue is unrelated, and a sign that Black Cat goes further forward into 2021! I love to find female character written well by male writers. Tom King does it for Catwoman and others in his DC work, Christopher Cantwell did it in Doctor Doom for Victorious, and now for Hellcat in Iron Man, which is surprising for entirely different reasons.
King in Black #3
it'll come out, it'll be a thing, probably won't be world changing. In it to see the ending.
We Only Find Them When They're Dead #5
The last issue of WOFTWTD was one of the most frustrating endings I've ever read--and Captain Malik felt it, too. After all their journeying, risks, fights, and loss, the ship finally found a living god! A female, larger than they'd ever seen before, and damn alive! In a brutal miscalculated attempt to sabotage the villain, the remaining ship-mates accidentally sliced the god's throat open, killing her. WHAT. My frustration and disbelief was only matched by that of Malik, who let loose his feelings on his crew. Everything they did was for nothing, now. They had it, she was there. Then they killed her. Beyond that frustration, I still have my curiosity, and Malik's team did learn new information. I'm very interested in what they'll do next, and if they'll get any answers to their new questions before winding in prison, or dead.
Cable #7
Post-X- of Swords Cable is back, with Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto! I always talk about what a fantastic interior artist Phil Noto is, and it's been so exciting to have him all over Reign of X already. This week's Cable will have the young time traveler going back to what this series was meant to be all about--saving mutant babies from weird mutant worship cults that often kill them. When we last caught up with that end of the plot, Cable and one of the Cuckoo sisters had discovered a new case of missing mutant baby, and were hot on the trail. Then some stuff with his stolen sword happened, then the stuff with a bunch of swords, and finally back to A. And I think Cable is still dating multiple Cuckoo sisters, so hopefully we'll get more of that humor in this issue again, too!
DCeased: Dead Planet #7
So many conflicting feelings at the final issue of the DCeased Saga! But not in the usual way, of being excited but sad to see it end. No, this go-round, I'm tapping my foot anxiously to get it over with, because the last issue ended so...good. Barda is back, which was honestly where this feeling of anxiety started. Then John and Zatanna kind of make up, and while the Amazo's are burning the people they hoped to save, things are looking just a little too good for the surviving heroes, themselves. I fully expect this issue to end in tears, with the majority of the remaining survivors dying hoplessly. As far as I know, this is Tom Taylor's last chapter of his DCeased project, so however this ends, that's it. See what I mean by excited by anxious? Things are going to go so bad, I can just feel it. But I also can't wait to watch.
Joker / Harley: Criminal Sanity #7
Kami Garcia continues to do a marvelous job with her alt-reality Harley Quinn story! We're getting to the point, now, that Harley is starting to get too close to the Joker, if in a totally different way than we're used to seeing. She still wants to take him down, right now, but he's got her goat--he knows how to get under her skin, and it doesn't look like he plans on quitting that anytime soon. As Harley scratches ever-closer to her target, she's going to have to admit to herself that she's getting to deep, before it's too late. I can't wait to see how Garcia ends this twisting road.
X-Force #16
I'm actually getting to a point in Johnathon Hickman's Big Mutant Project that I think I'm starting to see which books I'll be keeping on my pull list, and what I'm kind of drifting from. Oddly, the two that I feel I'm drifting from the most are both Benjamin Percy's comics, Wolverine and X-Force. The last Wolverine issue just didn't strike me as interesting as I feel it should have, so I'm curious how this X-Force issue will hit. We're at a point in Reign of X that the next big thing coming isn't an event, but the announcement of the new X-Men team lineup, and I get feeling by then, I'll know if I'm keeping this comic on my list or not.
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