Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Comic Book Reviews - September 5, 2018



For the first time in a longtime there's on independent comics to look at this week, so the Big 2 are set to battle it out! Will Avengers top Justice League? And will my randomly reading Batman this week actually sway me to pick it up bi-weekly instead of in trades? No. No it won't. But it's still good, because it's Tom freaking King, what else do you expect?

Avengers #7

Writer: Jason Aaron / Pencils: Sara Pichelli / Inks: Sara Pichelli & Elisabetta D'Amico / Colors: Justin Ponsor / Letters: VC's Cory Petit

Taking a break from the normal hair-raising events of Avengers to take a look at the very first Ghost Rider was an interesting choice on Jason Aaron's part, but an inevitable one. We can mostly surmise the origins of the Phoenix Force and Odin and Black Panther, and I'm sure the first Iron Fist and Sorcerer Supreme have their own stories, too, but Ghost Rider? It was cool enough to see him riding a flaming mammoth back in Marvel: Legacy #1 but even cooler to see it throw down with an actual foe.

There's a lot to read into about Ghost Rider's origin story but thankfully all of it feels true to the nature of the character as we all know him. The story is rooted in vengeance from the very beginning, but also the loss of innocence. This is the story of a boy who had to take on a world he was not prepared for, and probably will never be prepared for. There's some cool Biblical implications with how he gets his powers, and they're actually pretty terrifying thanks to the great art by Sara Pichelli. There are several amazing sequences in the book that Aaron and Pichelli work hand-in-hand to make as good as they are.

Pichelli's strength really shines early in the comic, less so with the action sequences. She draws the initial scenes in the cave with such a level of detail and brutality, and it immediately puts you in cave-man times even without the timestamp denoting where we are in history. I also think that her illustrations of humans seem much more realistic than later on. Not that it gets bad, but, her work with expressions and body language is exemplary early on.

A big chunk of the book has to do with fire vs. ice, and nowhere is that more relevant than the coloring work done by Justin Ponsor. There's a lot of whites and oranges in the comic, as necessary, and there's never a panel without a hue of either color. It helps keep the book consistent tonally. Scenes that are entirely about the Ghost Rider normally come with an orange background, while scenes where he's caught in a bad spot are remarkably blue. The scene where he makes the deal with Mephisto, my favorite scene of the comic, is the perfect blend of writing, drawing, and coloring work and will stick with me for a while, for sure.

Batman #54

Writer: Tom King / Artist: Matt Wagner  / Colors: Tomeu Morey / Letters: Clayton Cowles

Comic book one-shots are a dime a dozen nowadays, so I'll take one where I can find one, especially ones that are of such a quality as this. It's a fairly simple story: Batman and Nightwing going around Gotham and taking down Batman's lowest tier enemies, like the Condiment King. But the interesting part about it is the flashbacks we see where Bruce Wayne helps Dick Grayson settle into life at Wayne Manor, and seeing how, now, Dick Grayson is helping Bruce Wayne through this troublesome part of his life.

This book is essentially an introspective look at the real relationship between Batman and Nightwing, not Batman and Robin as one might expect. Robin never makes an appearance in the comic, and I think that's for the benefit of the comic. Nightwing is an entirely different man than Robin is: he's grown up, matured, but also more of a hot-shot. He can handle himself, so he can make a few more jokes. It's exactly what Batman needs right now, just like how Dick Grayson needed Bruce Wayne when he was a little boy. Except neither the past Dick Grayson nor present Bruce Wayne knows that they need this help.

King excels at exploring Batman's relationships with his peers, and the only other person closer to Batman than Alfred is Dick Grayson. It's interesting to see their relationship flucuate between two old friends and that of a young father and a young son. Part of Bruce will always see Dick (and Jason and Tim and all the others) as his son, but now that he's grown up and even become Batman for a while, it's entirely possible that he sees Dick as a best friend. There are several scenes where it's just the two of them talking or sitting around where this is entirely evident.

Matt Wagner was a solid choice as an artist for this comic. His work isn't groundbreaking, but the way that he draws characters and environments allows the tone of the comic to remain fluid throughout. It would've been too jarring for the comic to have two different artists (one for the past and one for the present) because the story is, ultimately, the same in both instances. Thus, we need an artist. Several scenes rely on solid transition of facial expressions, and Wagner certainly has a knack for that. He seamlessly transitions between young Dick Grayson and Nightwing several times and it never feels odd or forced, it just feels like a natural progression of time. Also, he draws a really good Nightwing. Never a bad thing. 

Green Arrow #44

Writers: Julia Benson and Shawna Benson / Artist: Javier Fernandez / Colors: John Kalisz / Letters: Deron Bennett

The Benson sisters have done an excellent job of fleshing out this new vigilante in The Citizen. Already he proves to be a worthy adversary for both Green Arrow and, more importantly, Oliver Queen. While we saw a lot of good villains to stand up against Oliver Queen in the last run with Ben Percy, most of those demons came from Oliver's own making. This one, though, is a specific attack targetted against him, and it's a foe that he can't defeat, it's a foe that is telling him what is wrong with him and he knows that the only way to beat him is to, essentially, move forward. But that's never easy for a guy like Oliver, and the Benson sisters are really showing that dynamic in a powerful way.

What's interesting, though, is that rather than sulk about it an be immobilized by the very dark events of his past, Oliver continues his duties as Green Arrow. The Benson sisters aren't afraid to move forward with what's been set up before them; I think in the hands of other writers, they would try to make their mark on Green Arrow by resetting things to a certain point, to break Oliver down to a point we've already seen. Instead, we're seeing that Oliver is a hero first and is super second. He does get distracted by these things, but he has to prioritize. He's come a long way, and through dialogue and action, the Benson sisters are displaying this in force.

Arguably the best part of the comic is the art by Javier Fernandez. Nothing feels looked over, everything has detail to it. Every panel seems maxed out with potential and there is no wasted space at all. While the Citizen's design isn't all that amazing (it's just some street thug, so, it doesn't have to be) he's also really bringing to life the designs for Green Arrow and Black Canary very well, and there's more than a few really sweet panels of Oliver shooting his bow or something cool. Another strength of Fernandez's art is his character expressions, there's genuine emotion drawn all over them and it makes scenes feel that much better.

While I do have some grievances with John Kalisz's coloring work (some of it feels a bit muted or flat in places) there are some scenes where it feels as if the tone and emotion is riding off the strength of his colors, like the final scene with Black Canary and Green Arrow comes together almost entirely through the colors. There's alos one super awesome shot of Green Arrow that's both well-drawn and well-lit to make him seem like a complete badass. 

Justice League #7

Writer: Scott Snyder / Pencils: Jim Cheung / Inks: Mark Morales, Walden Wong, Jim Cheung / Colors: Tomeu Morey / Letters: Tom Napolitano

The finale to the "Totality" arc is at an end and boy am I glad that I kind of understand what's happening. I mean, I don't, but things have been simplified enough for me to kind of get what everyone's doing. I don't get why they're doing it, but damn if it doesn't look super cool. Pretty much every hero (except Batman) gets their own moment to shine here and it's really big and loud and lots of explosions and crazy summer blockbuster stuff. And, in the end, what do we learn?

That the multiverse really doesn't like us right now. Oh well.

My complaint with the comic has basically been the same throughout and it doesn't change here: way too much is being eaten off of too big a piece, and now that it's over, maybe we can look back and it'll make some semblance of sense, but for now, I feel like I just got off the world's most insane roller-coster and need to brace myself against a trash can for a bit. But we do get some cool teases at the end, so hey, not totally weird.

Also Jim Cheung is back on art, along with a team of noticeable inkers. It's weird for me to mention that since I don't normally spot when there are multiple people inking a comic, but there were more than a few times when I would turn the page and notice the difference in art, and it took me out of things a bit more than I already was. Still, the underlying factor of Jim Cheung's art will always be amazing, and if nothing else, you should pick up this run of Justice League just for the amazing art shared by Cheung and Jimenez. It's really been a blessing to make the things that don't make sense still look really friggin' cool. 

Thanos Legacy #1

Writers: Donny Cates, Gerry Duggan / Artists: Brian Level, Cory Smith / Colors: Jordan Boyd, Ruth Redmond / Letters: VC's Clayton Cowles

If you never read Donny Cates's Thanos run (the arc called "Thanos Wins" and you should because it's arguably the best stuff of the entire year) then you should probably skip out on this one, there's so much stuff that will fly completely over your head. While a good portion of the comic is basically a recap of events from the end of that story (and the start of Infinity Wars) there's plenty of new, original material to go around and be enthralled by. Most of it revolves around the Cosmic Ghost Rider which is always a good thing. Dude's great, and Cates writes him incredibly well.

While at times the first half of this comic feels like just a ton of recap, it does fit into an overall narrative. It's a bit incongruous in terms of the timeline, but if you're read "Thanos Wins" then there are some great, great moments that occur in this comic that'll have you grinning ear-to-ear. I found myself captivated by this comic for whenever the new material arrived. When the Cosmic Ghost Rider does arrive, from then on it's nothing but interesting (unfortunately it's basically the end of the story, but still). There's one other character that I've been waiting for Marvel to bring back that shows up, and his involvement also has me curious.

Brian Level does solid work here with this story and these characters. While I don't think it's quite on part with Geoff Shaw's work in Thanos, it still suffices here. It's tonally consistent with what we had back then and honestly it's a nitpick to say that it's of a lesser quality. He draws an excellent Thanos and Rider, furthering the depth that Cates and Shaw gave to Thanos with their run.

The second story is much shorter and definitely a much different tale. It explores what was probably just another day in the life for a young Gamora and Thanos as he raised her to become the fiercest woman in the galaxy. There's no dialogue here so the strength of the story comes from the writing of Duggan and the layout and artwork of Cory Smith. Artistically, this is a better made story than the last, since scenes flow more naturally here and you see every bit of emotion off the panel rather than have a headless narrator explain it to you. The end of the story is expected, but no less crushing, and it's masterfully executed by Smith's art, coupled with Ruth Redmond's colors, which were stellar throughout the comic. 




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