The new year is here and it's time to try something new around here as well! Rather than examining just one comic that may or may not relate to something relevant, like a movie or TV show, I felt, if I were to get back into writing about comic books, that I could take a bit of a simpler route and do little blurbs on books. But what books? Why, the books I pick up each week! So, welcome to the first rendition of my weekly comic book reviews!
My amount of books will vary from week to week. Some weeks it'll be a long list of various titles, and other weeks it may be just one or two. This week we've hit the number that I usually pick up on average: 4. Unfortunately, we're a bit lacking in diversity among companies, since there weren't any Marvel titles that I currently read that had a comic come out this week. I didn't even anticipate reading another of these titles until it was handed to me and I got it on a whim.
I toyed around with making a big deal of what book was my pick of the week, but to avoid copying iFanboy anymore than I am anyway, I decided to just keep it simple and talk about the books I got. If I feel like it, I'll mention that the comic is my book of the week.
Also it'll be the thumbnail for the post, so, yeah. Let's get started!
Detective Comics #972
Writer: James Tynion IV / Penciller: Miquel Medonca / Inks: Diana Coca / Colors: Jason Wright / Letterer: Sal Ciriano
Kicking things off is the continuation of the "Fall of the Batmen" arc, which at this point is basically just the "Fall of Clayface" and "Batwoman is evil?" stories that are spinning out of Tim Drake's return and his future self giving cryptic messages to the Gotham Knights. It focuses mostly on Clayface, as the last few issues have done, and push the Victim Syndicate into the background, and all the better for it in my opinion. The Victim Syndicate have never really come off as anything more than petty side-villains grouping together and finding a fickle cause to fight against Batman. They're just catalysts of chaos, but without any personality or charisma like the Joker or the Riddler.
One of the faults of this book actually seems to be the way that DC themselves are pushing it. A lot of conversation in this comic is what happens in the future to cause a rift between Batwoman and the rest of the team, and why Tim Drake would actually kill her. This arc is trying to incorporate elements of it and the marketing for the comic makes it seem that her fall is the focal point, but really, it's the tragedy of Clayface: the he was so close to what he wanted but that just bad luck got in the way and pushed him back down the path of darkness.
I wish they'd replaced any time with setting up the Batwoman stuff with focusing on the ever-increasingly interesting relationship between Clayface and Cassandra Cain. They've become the most interesting duo of the comic, even when Tim Drake saw his return a few issues back. This arc should be about them and how they're going to handle it, and some extent it has, but their reunion this issue was too rushed for the comic's good.
The book also doesn't lean enough into the rioting that's going on and how nobody seems to like the Gotham Knights for harboring Clayface. I get that Batman has priorities, but it isn't like he doesn't have other PR people to speak up for him like Superman or even just Lucius Fox. Again, it's a fault of the Victim Syndicate getting a much bigger push than they actually deserve.
This is turning into an arc where each individual issue isn't going to be all that stand-out, but seen as a whole in terms of an arc we'll get a more complete picture of things. As it is I can barely remember who some minor characters are and what their deal is. I'm thankful that the Mayor is always angry with Batman initially so that I can remember what he wants, but then their conversation is just the same thing over and over. It gets pretty boring.
Mister Miracle #6
Writer: Tom King / Artist: Mitch Gerads / Letterer: Clayton Cowles
My pick for last year's best series is back, and Scott Free is going to die apparently! Or, at least, that's what we're led to believe as we head into this issue which, really, is just about home and interior designing. I learned so much about how to make room in a tiny condo this issue, way more than I would've expected going into it.
And really, that's sort of the theme of this issue. No, not the redecorating thing, but the fact that these two celestial entities are slicing and dicing their way to see god and the entire time, up until their final confrontation, they're discussing what to do about their living room situation, since Big Barda wants to move it. No, in reality, I think this issue is about the idea of nothing being sacred, nothing is truly sacred in this world.
In the hands of someone else, Mister Miracle and Big Barda storming Orion's halls would be epic, intense, filled with crazy action and over the top speeches of how brave they are in the face of adversity. Instead, they fight but don't make note of it. They fight GODS but just stroll through and keep their focus on the topic at hand. Maybe its a defense mechanism to evade their nerves, but, really, I believe Tom King wants to tell us that what they're doing doesn't matter to them, and that this mission is basically little more than something they just need to do. It's not sacred, it's not theological, it's just something in their way.
Part of that thesis comes from the beginning and ending of the book, where we see someone near and dear to Scott being sort of given their final goodbye, and then again at the end, when everything they'd been building up to suddenly falls apart in one fell swoop and Scott comes face to face with his own mortality.
Unfortunately, this is one the lower-end of the Mister Miracle tier list. Bear in mind, this is still a good issue. Mitch Gerads does an excellent job with the action and sequential art as he always does, proving his mastery of the nine-panel grid, and Tom King gets in a few funny lines of dialogue and presents the story in an unorthodox way. I just think they didn't have that much material for a full twenty-or-so pages and so had it pad it out with the talk of interior design and some splash pages that really didn't need all that effort. It just wasn't as exciting or emotional as the rest of the series has been, though it leaves us on a harrowing cliffhanger as we head into a month-long break from the comic.
Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe #1
Writer: Eliot Rahal / Artists: Joe Bennett, Belardino Brabo / Colorist: Ulises Arreola / Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Didn't expect to be reading this, but, I'm glad I did. Based on the upcoming Valiant web-series of the same name, this comic features an alternate world where secret MI-6 agent Ninjak is forced into all-out war against the Valiant Universe's greatest heroes, like X-O Manowar, the Eternal Warrior, and Bloodshot. But not Divinity or any of the Psiots, interestingly enough, I guess Sony was okay with giving them the rights to use Bloodshot but not the Psiots.
Weird.
Anyway, I guess this comic serves as a prelude or a tie-in of some sorts to the series and I'm fine with that. I didn't want to read this because I normally don't read movie tie-in comics, but I found myself sinking into this pretty easily. Granted, this isn't really a comic someone without knowledge of the Valiant Universe can just hop in on. They introduce a ton in this issue: Ninjak, Roku, Livewire, Neville Alcottt, G.A.T.E., and Unity. It can be a lot for new readers. But for Valiant faithful, and especially fans of Colin King/ Ninjak, this is a real treat.
It's really nothing all that special, it's just a fun "what-if" scenario. Valiant hasn't really delved into alternate universe tales yet. Sure they had Divinity III - Stalinverse but that's actually canon and was only around for a few issues. No, I'm talking like "what if the X-O Manowar armor went to Gilad" or "what if the Armor Hunters had conquered Earth" and stuff like that. This one is a fairly standard what-if: What if Ninjak went rogue?
Now, the premise is one that relies on a lot of baggage from knowing Ninjak and Roku's shared history, which was explored to great depths in Matt Kindt's run with the character these last few years. They don't address it in this issue, which is a shame, because how Ninjak gets involved with does have some striking similarities to how Roku and Ninjak's relationship took its dark turn.
This first issue basically serves as an introduction to the situation and the relationships on hand, like Neville's friendship with Ninjak, Livewire's status in the superhero world, and that Ninjak is totally British. But, it doesn't answer the fundementals of "Who is Livewire?" "How did Ninjak get to be so damn cool?" "How does Roku know Ninjak knows Neville?"
For me, it was definitely the most fun I had had with a comic this week. Maybe some of that has to do with the unexpected factor of it all, or maybe it's because it was just so action-packed and fast pace that it felt like watching an episode of a web series. Joe Bennett and Belardino Brabo do an excellent job in the fighting and with the still shots of everyone that it was easy to get sucked into this new world. Really enjoyed it, check it out if you're a fan of the character, or are looking forward to the coming web series!
The Flash #38
Writer: Joshua Williamson / Artist: Scott Kolins / Colorist: Hi-Fi / Letterer: Steve Wands
This issue sees the end of the "Cold Day in Hell" arc and picks up where last issue left off as Captain Cold punches Barry Allen in the face. And not gonna lie, that's one way to win me over to reading a comic with the Flash in it. But that's not all! A surprising amount of things happen in this issue. Half the book feels like wrap-up of this last arc, and the other half feels like setting up future events to come.
One of the most interesting things about this issue is the status of August Heart with the Rogues and with Barry Allen. He's quickly become one of the most compelling characters in this series that gets very little panel time. I hope this is amended this year, because we really didn't see much of August last year until the end of the year, when Barry was relocated to Iron Heights with his assistant. Most of this single issue is really about him and what he's chosen to do, and what he may yet choose to do on his way forward.
A friend of mine pointed out how much of this comic is about redemption, and I a hundred-percent agree. It appears with August, Barry, and even, potentially, in Captain Cold, as he get relocate to somewhere else, somewhere super exciting, actually. The comic definitely leaves us in a state of "what now?" despite these next few arcs probably just being set up for the major "Flash War" arc coming to us in just a few months.
I should also note that there was a change up in art for this issue and it really didn't do anything for me. I wouldn't say it was bad, but the change in style was jarring and I thought the previous artist was just fine. When it came to still-shots the art was okay, but things in motion looked a bit funny.
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