New week, new pull list! Getting started earlier, this time, so what happened last week doesn't happen again. I'm trying to get more into writing reviews of single issues that strike me as remarkable, so head to the reviews section to see what I've added so far! Also see the comic book Pick Lists for shorter reviews.
This week's pulls bring in thirteen comics! Which is about average for me, recently. Of those, there are three one-shots, FIVE indie titles, five from Marvel, one of Dawn of X (X of Swords), and one non-one-shot DC comic. There's a lot to be read and learned about in comics this week! I'm doing a shorter Spotlight this week, on industry writer and colorist Jordie Bellaire! She's one of two colorists I've come to think of as favorites, both of which are women (the other being Tamra Bonvillain)! Bellaire has some excellent work under her belt as an art team member and a writer, so she's more than worth learning more about. Continue Reading to see what's good in comics this week!
JUMP TO:
Spotlight on Women in Comics: Jordie Bellaire - industry writer and colorist
This week sees the 10th issue of Vampirella/Red Sonja, written by Jordie Bellaire. Bellaire is known for her work on MANY Buffy: The Vampire Slayer comics, including the recent Hellmouth issues, alongside Buffy creator Joss Whedon. She's worked on a number of independent comic projects as writer, including one called Redlands. Her writing her been critically acclaimed due to it's feminist nature and realistic portrayal of women and LGBTQ+ characters, among other points. In Vampirella/Red Sonja, she's brought the two nineties powerhouse babes together in a way we've never seen before, and I very much wish it was continuing. The relationship that's been developed between the two women is as real as it is wholesome, with their characters changing and adapting to the other as they get to know one another better. Its easily one of the most enjoyable books on my pull list. But Jordie Bellaire isn't just a fantastic writer, she's a renowned and two-time Eisner award winning comic colorist, as well. A year ago, I might have been a little less enthusiastic about colorists than I am now. Recently, I've made discoveries of Once & Future, Ludocrats, Black Widow, and more that have blown my mind with the coloring. My personal belief is the fewer people on a creative team, the more likely it is to feel like a solid, singular effort. But there are times when comics get the perfect lineup of creatives on board who mesh together so well, you can't imagine it any other way. In even more recent weeks and months, I've actually noticed a number of times that Bellaire has colored some of my favorite things in comics. Recently, its been Kelly Thompson's Black Widow and Gerard Way's You Look Like Death. But Bellaire's colorist resume is more spread through my comics reading history than I even knew--Tom King's Vision, Kelly Sue Decconick's Pretty Deadly, a variety of Batman stories, Deadpool, Moon Knight, and Hawkeye are all comics I have read and loved, especially for the art, and they were all colored by Bellaire. There is no doubt that colorist are often overlooked, but Jordie Bellaire is what I call an "industry favorite" for a good reason. Her colors bring pages to life as much as her words do, when she writes. Read Jordie Bellaire's work this week in Vampirella/Red Sonja #10, then pick up Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande's Black Widow #1 to see her stupendous colors in action!
Dark Nights: Death Metal - Speed Metal #1
Here is this week's Death Metal tie in. I'm not sure why, but the creative team has decided to spread the event out across a number of one-shot tie-ins, instead of just adding more issues to the main event series. The last one was strictly a continuation of the main series, so you really can't miss out on a lot of these one-hots without missing out on integral parts of the story. This week's focuses on Wally West, who's been through quite a bit of transformation in the past year or two. Wally was taken out of DC continuity for the 2012-ish New 52, and brought back in for Rebirth, but without anyone really knowing who he is. His wife and kids, as he had before, don't even know he existed. In Ton King's Heroes in Crisis, Wally snapped, killing a number of heroes on accident. He was imprisoned, but Flash Forward saw him break out and take on a new role-- sitting in Metron's chair of all knowledge. These days, he has Doctor Manhattan's atom symbol on his forehead, and his suit is now blue. There has yet to be an explanation as to why he took on this appearance, but it will no doubt tie into how the Batman who Laughs is now merged with a Manhattan body. If ANY of that made sense, you're probably good to go for this issue! Hopefully they'll have a good, brief explanation of all these events, for the readers who weren't keeping up with those stories. After all, no one said anything about them being related to future important DC events, so I can't blame anyone for being out of the loop.
X of Swords: Creation #1
At last, the first official issue of X of Swords! In case you missed it, the last issues of Excalibur and X-Men were preludes, but I'd definitely only consider X-Men the necessary one to read. We're already getting headfirst into the usual crazy Johnathon Hickman style of writing big events, which is just something you heave to learn to get through, as a Hickman reader. I promise that if you keep up and pay attention, it will all make sense by the end. X-Men #12 saw the first full appearance of Apocalypse's wife, and a great deal of mutant backstory. This issue is written by Johnathon Hickman and Tini Howard, who normally writes Excalibur for Dawn of X, and the story will continue in X-Factor #4 next week. Speaking of X-Factor, that issue features Carlos Gomez on art, who does a stupendous job drawing youthful adult heroes. I know a fair amount of fans are mad about the Hickman stuff, but I honestly don't see why. I've never picked up a comic in my life and assumed the status quo in that single issue will be the status quo for that character for all time. That's a ridiculous rule to hold writers to, especially after decades of characterization. In any case, I'm already reading all the Dawn of X books, and am super excited to see X of Swords as a whole when its completed!
An Unkindness of Ravens #1
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for Salem Witch Trial-era history rewrites. One excellent example was the recent Freeform show, Motherland: Fort Salem. In that show, they imagined a world where the witches of the Salem trials made a deal with the humans to fight their wars for them. It seems the rest of the world followed suit, and the reality is mostly the same as ours, just with witches in charge of all the armies. Seeing militarized witches was enough to get me sweaty about feminism and the history of witch women, but I digress. This tale falls along that history-twisting path, in my opinion. It follows a group of young girls at a witch school for the descendants of the Salem witches who weren't caught. A member of the group has disappeared, and a new student joins their ranks. While I originally heard of this series because of the incentive Jenny Frison variant, the short solicitation has gotten my attention. Writer Dan Panosian has done a fair amount of work with the Bat-Family and various Buffy: The Vampire Slayer comics, so this will fall right in his wheelhouse. Now, if only I could swing that Frison variant...
Immortal She-Hulk #1
On a full week of comic releases, this is probably my most anticipated book. My site is called Sensational She-Geek, so you can imagine I must be a fan of the character, and you'd be right, But Jen Walters and her Hulk persona are so much more than what they appear on the surface. I wrote a short article about a year ago on Captain Marvel and She-Hulk being two Marvel heroines who had recently gone through transformations that greatly improved their power-set and/or character. You can find that article here, and be sure I'll be doing a follow-up with what happens in this issue this week. If you're out of the loop, She-Hulk was technically killed in one of the recent Empyre event comics. It was honestly not a very good move at the time, because absolutely no one in the series even seemed to acknowledge her death, except a brief comment by Thor. When she ultimately made her return, there was little to no explanation, especially not one anyone not reading Immortal Hulk would ever understand. In short, the One Below All (the Devil) is the source of all Hulks' power. Its a lot more complicated than just that, but that's more or less what needs to be known. It was mildly discussed in an earlier Avengers issue by Jason Aaron, where he showed Jen in her own mind, talking to the various version of She-Hulk. With Immortal Hulk writer Al Ewing on this one-shot, I'm hoping he'll do a lot in a short amount of time, and will establish Jen as the same sort of thing Bruce is, these days. Not only will that give her more control over her Hulk powers, it will allow her to change into any version of Hulk she wants, at any time. There's so much positivity Ewing can throw on Jen in this issue, and I hope it allows another (female) writer to come in and start a new She-Hulk comic soon.
Shadow Service #2
I didn't write a blurb for Secret Service #1, because I wanted to read the first issue to see what I thought. I enjoyed it a lot, so here we are. Shadow Service follows a witch, or magical type, in the modern world. Her powers have brought nothing but trouble when she uses them around people she cares about, so she sticks to a pretty solitary life. But trouble finds her every time, and now she's been kidnapped by a group called the MI666! Ignoring the hilarity of that title, Gina is in a tough spot. She doesn't seem to have many allies in the world, and these guys mean business. What do they want, and how is she going to get away?
Bliss #3
If you haven't picked up the first two issues of Sean Lewis and Caitlin Yarsky's Bliss, you need to do that ASAP. Taking place in a world much like ours but with severe fantasy elements, Bliss features one of the most genius writer/artist combos I've seen in modern comics. Lewis' fantastic story, with all it's Gothic darkness, is exactly paralleled in Yarsky's almost Tim Burton-style art. The plot is fairly straight forward, as it takes place during the trail of a young man's criminal father. Through his testimony, we learn of the hidden darkness of this world, which infects everything, and dragged his father down with it. The world is still being built out, with more and more fantasy elements introduced in each issue. At the end of the last issue, the court proceedings were interrupted by some kind of cleric, who claimed to have information pertinent to the man's case. She would give the Judge her information, if the court agreed to protect her. This is an interesting development, partially in that the cleric is decidedly non-human. She works, or worked, for Lethe, an actual god, and the Judge takes her and the son of the accused to what appears to be a below-ground dungeon. This is a world where there is drug use, modern police cars, city buildings, subways, and more aspects directly comparable to our world, and yet the fantasy side is ever-growing. I'm excited to see how the world develops in this issue, and the remaining of the eight!
Spider-Woman #4
At only three issues in, and Karla Pacheco's Spider-Woman has surpassed all my expectations. She writes an excellent combination of humor and darkness, which fits directly in with Jessica Drew's somewhat abrasive, sarcastic persona. In the last issue, just like Chip Zdarsky with Daredevil, Pacheco announced that Jess has a long-lost brother! This is an interesting development for a number of reasons. First, it seems, he has the same--or at least very similar--power set as his sister. He also has a daughter, who is very sick, and who he used against Jess to trick her into coming to the place she was made--an ex-Hydra abandoned factory. Assuming he is telling the truth about who he is, why does he need Jess along with them, if he has the same powers? It would be awfully poetic, though, to have this end up being a lot like her Spider-Woman origin. When she was first Spider-Woman, Jessica was under the thumb of Hydra, because she believed the man she loved had been killed by Nick Fury of SHIELD. As it turned out, however, her lover had faked his death to get her to do their bidding, and never saw her as anything but a target. It would be tragically perfect to have something similar happen with this "brother" and his daughter. If she thinks family is in danger, I have no doubt Jess would do anything it takes to keep them safe. Anyone who knows that could definitely use that against her, which we'll have to wait and see!
Doctor Doom #7
It's been about six months since the last issue of Doom came out, so being a little lost with the new issue isn't too big of a deal. Here's a very brief rundown: Victor had been dreaming of saving the world. He warned the science community the stable black hole on the moon would break, and it did, killing scientists. Doom was believed to be the top suspect, until he was sniped. He fights Mephisto and beats him, returning to Earth. On Earth, his country of Latveria has been taken from beneath him, as everyone thinks he's dead. But his main ally is Victorious, his second in command, who has a piece of the Power Cosmic. She's quickly become a favorite character in this series, and I hope to see more of her in this issue. Doom is meant to be taking back his country, so I bet Victorious will be an integral part of his retake of Latveria.
Undiscovered Country #8
Undiscovered Country has been consistently bonkers, tied up with both science fiction and fantasy, with some of the most ingenious plots in the doomsday genre. Every issue only expands the craziness of the world and the story, leaving you wanting more at the end of each one. The group that we've followed back into the former United States is a little broken up, but the important characters are alive and well. They made it through the first segment of the country, and are now headed into the second. In the last issue, we saw the first bits of the second zone, which seems to be populated by strictly AI creatures. Based on the solicitation this week, we're going to see a really messed up futuristic society, who's morals and ideas of what is "normal" have been long-since twisted. And of course, it won't be as easy as just passing through. The inhabitants of this zone will no doubt want something from the travelers, or think they need to integrate them into the same system. This is Scott Snyder and Charles Soule outside the bounds of the "big two", and they're only just getting started!
Vampirella/Red Sonja #10
Man, I need to start double-checking my sources on certain publisher's books' release dates! You'd think the publisher's websites would have accurate information...here's the bluorb I wrote for V/RS a few weeks ago. We're down to the final three issues of Jordie Bellaire's Vampirella/Red Sonja series! It's been an incredibly fun trip, and these last issues are bound to be a hoot. The last issue of V/RS saw Vampirella ill on Drakulon, and Sonja just emerging from an endless sleep. Vampi's daughter tells her the story of them arriving on Drakulon, years ago. Her mother is under a curse from a local would-be god, and none have been able to smite it. Even Sonja, when she tries, ends up with more than she bargained for. But there was a lot left unsaid by the daughter, and Vampirella filled her friend in when she briefly woke. When they arrived on Drakulon, the shift through space-time almost killed Sonja. Without any hope of other help, Vampirella did the only thing she knew to save her friend's life, and turned her into a vampire. Expecting a furious rage, the two Drakulonians are pleased to discover Red Sonja is absolutely thrilled with this development. She say that warriors are always wanting more power, and that's exactly what becoming a vampire has given her. Without a second thought, Sonja leaps from the castle and into the mountains to fight the god being once more. In her bed, Vampirella hears a mighty roar, then her illness begins to heal. In that moment, she knows Sonja the Red was successful this time. There will be more demonic fighting in this issue, as I doubt we'll start seeing the story wrap up until at least issue #11. I'm sad to see this one go, but it's been a helluva ride!
Daredevil #22
After the world-changing reveal of the recent Daredevil Annual, I'm curious to see how those changes affect the story of Matt Murdock from here on out. He's about to go on trial as Daredevil, and this week's solicitation teases Matt making a decision that will change his--and Daredevil's--lives forever. This could be pretty much anything, and the cover features a Daredevil themes Iron Man mask. While that could be homage to the recent Iron Man #1 being released, m any times the covers of comics don't mean anything about the inside. Personally, I'd hope that it would tie into the twist of Daredevil Annual, which was that Matt now canonically has a brother. I have a feeling they might make us a wait a while, but it'll be fun to see the changes when they happen. Chip Zdarsky writes a stunning Daredevil, one of my favorites, of not the top contender. He's taken Matt to places we never thought of in the first 20-issues of this run, and I can't wait to see how he writes the trial of Daredevil, and the future of Matt beyond that.
Venom #28
Venom Beyond, part three! Or, as I like to call it, the filler event between Absolute Carnage's fallout and the beginning of King in Black! I think I speak for a lot of Venom fans that ever since we learned about Knull, everything else has paled in comparison. The God of the symbiotes, how could we NOT latch onto that idea? And here's where I start getting into my Donny Cates Marvel Universe Conspiracy. Alright, maybe conspiracy isn't the right word. Maybe "overarching multi-year plan" is more accurate. My theory is that all Cates' work ties together, including Death of the Inhumans, Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos, Cosmic Ghost Rider, and all the Venom properties. It even includes Thor, since Thanos has recently popped up in an issue as the doom of Thor. Thanos is currently dead, but that doesn't mean anything in comics. Likewise, Flash Thompson is dead, but I still think he's come back as Virus, somehow. In any case, Knull is starting to look like a mere road-stop between the Marvel Universe and it's true Big Bad--Thanos. He was drawn, in that scene, wearing a much darker outfit than we've seen before, wielding a black, inky gauntlet. Thanos is coming, an he's going to bend Knull to his will. Bring it on, Thanos Wins!
Batgirl #49
Unfortunately, this is the second-to-last comic coming from Cecil Castellucci's Batgirl run, which wraps up with issue #50. Click here to read the reviews I have of her final few issues! I've loved what Castellucci has done with Barbara, and I love even more my theory of what she's ending the series with. Currently, Batgirl is mid-two-issue arc about her brother, James Gordon, Jr.. It seems someone in Gotham is killing pale, red-headed women of her age, which could only be some crazy psychological creepiness coming from James. Meanwhile, the last issue also had some excellent dialogue with Luke Fox, formerly Batwing. She and Luke have been romantically intertwined in the past, but more importantly, they discussed that Babs' spinal implant is on it's last leg, and they won't be able to do the same fix twice. The implant gives Barbara the ability to walk after having been shot by the Joker in The Killing Joke. Following her paralyzation, Babs spent over a decade as tech-savvy Oracle, while other characters played the part of Batgirl on the streets. With so much discussion of the possibility that "some day" the implant won't work anymore, plus the fact that the Oracle AI was recently involved in the story, makes me think that Castellucci is setting up Barbara to be Oracle, again, by that end of this series. The final issue claims to hold key changes for Barbara's future, and while we all know how solicitations can exaggerate, this time it might be real. Or, at least, that's what I'm hoping.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
What you'll find on the SSG Blog:*Yancy St. PODCAST NOTES! Categories
All
Archives
September 2023
|