All Star Superman #7

Adan: Late again by a not inconsiderable length of time, and yet still the better behaved of the All-Star children. At least Superman visits from time to time, usually around the holidays or other important dates, but Batman? No, he’s left home and he’s not looked back. Maybe we shouldn’t have been so hard on him when he gave us lip, but c’mon. “I’m the Goddamn Batman?” That kind of backtalk is inexcusable. Regardless, this is supposed to be about the good son, and what a good son he is. All-Star Superman is (and I use this term loosely) consistently a great book. Grant Morrison, with the correct amount of crazy and genius makes this one of, if not the best superhero comic around. Even Frank Quitely’s art, which I normally hate with a passion reserved for Commies and John Byrne, is great in this book. His Superman is massive and heroic, with shoulders the size of football fields. He looks like Charles Atlas, and not by accident. And hey, this issue features plenty of bad grammar for you grammar geeks to correct: Me am no like this book a lot. It am badder than milk after cookies.

Brendan: All Star Superman #7 proves that good things come to those who wait. Grant Morrison provides an intriguing take on the classic villain Bizzaro. The creative twist on the character is just enough to turn the story from absurd to slightly disturbing, but may have been more rewarding if not for the recent re-envisioning of the character in Donner and Johns’ Action Comics. Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant deliver the artistic goods on what feels like the most polished superhero book on the stands. It is a bit of a shame sacrificing the book’s most satisfying quality, the single issue story, in favor of the two-parter, but the issue’s cliffhanger manages to give the scope desired of a longer tale. While not my favorite issue of the series to date, this issue still outshines 95% of the superhero comics on the stands.

Fell #8

Brendan: Fell. Man, what a great comic. Templesmith’s art is completely haunting, and Ellis seems to be more comfortable with these characters and settings than he’s ever been. The issue is about a murder, but like most Fell tales it is really about Richard Fell’s heartbreaking relationship with his new home of Snowtown. Ellis continues to innovate comics’ storytelling, here with more than half the issue told exclusively through the detective’s crime scene photos and post-it notes. Great book, and this one will break your heart.

Adan: This issue uses a nifty storytelling technique: every panel (except a bit at the very end) is a shot from Detective Fell’s cheap diposable camera during one night. Every crime scene he investigates, every person he talks to, every perp he roughs up. I question the intelligence in that last one, but whatever, it’s Snowtown (oooh! suddenly I want to see a Chinatown-like story set in Snowtown; the ending to that movie was pretty fucked up, so imagine what crazy things Ellis could do in Snowtown). As Detective Fell solves yet another grisly mystery that will no doubt give him nightmares (you know, if he slept anymore), he also comes to a revelation: this is his home now, and these people depend on him. “This is where I live now,” the detective says, as he stares out into Snowtown. “None of you are nothing to me.” And this comic is damn good something to me.

Madman Atomic Comics #1

Brendan: That Mike Allred is a cool cat. That Madman fella is too. Atomic Comics’ Madman #1 debuts from Image this week, and serves as a great primer on the world’s deadest superhero. We get a retelling of the entire origin of Frank Einstein, and a few new wrinkles. Madman seems to begin an Animal Man like journey through his own self-definition, and may end up peeking through the fourth wall. It will be fun, nonetheless, and you won’t want to miss this new series.

Adan: Having never read any Madman before (although secretly wanting to), this book makes me really happy. It seems to be a new direction for the undead hero, but this issue perfectly encapsulates Madman’s entire history in twenty-five pages while at the same time starting a brand-new story. Hell, I’m intrigued as all get out by this unraveling mystery, and I’ve never read the character before. I can only assume long-time fans will grip this with the strength of a snow leopard dragging a markhor back to its lair (sorry, I’ve been watching a lot of Planet Earth, which is fantastic, by the way). What I’m saying is, unless you’re a dirty beatnik, read this book!

New X-men #37

Brendan: I like that there are things in life you can rely on. I like that no matter what, even on the obscure titles I never bother to check in on, X-Men books will be pretty. New X-Men #37 was no disappointment, as it was a tag team of Skottie Young and Pride of Baghdad’s Niko Henrichon on art chores. I’m not very familiar with the newest class of New Mutants, but that didn’t really matter in this issue, as they mostly just sat around telling scary stories. I don’t much care for these kids, and I don’t much care for Illyana Rasputin, but I didn’t mind this issue. It was what it was, a story about a story, and a pretty one at that. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. X-Men, you are my rock.

Adan: This is the the prelude to the “Quest for Magik” storyarc that, one assumes, brings Illyana Rasputin back to life. Firstly, let me say that Captain America’s death already means so little, why would you drive the point home by bringing more characters back to life? It’s almost as if Marvel only wanted the news cycle for the day. With that out of the way, I can get to the actual review: This issue is really good! New X-men is one of two X-books that are legitimately good (the other of course being X-Factor), and this issue keeps the ball rolling. Craig Kyle and Chris Yost’s technique of telling a story within a story is as old as time, but they use it here with superb effect. Blindfold, the mansion’s resident seer, begins telling the kids what they all believe to be a simple ghost story. In reality, she is telling the history, and present, of Limbo, Belasco, Amada Sefton, and Magik. Skottie Young handles the art featuring the kids, while Niko Henrichon (of Pride of Baghdad fame) lusciously paints all the “story” pages: all the pages which further Blindfold’s telling of Magik. I am excited to see where this all goes (especially if Niko stays on for the duration of the arc), but I am also wagging a finger in Marvel’s direction for once again proving comic book death doesn’t matter.

Nova #1

Adan: “What’s next?” That is the only question that the last surviving member of the Nova Corps, who’s mind currently shares primo real estate with the Xandarian Worldmind, will allow himself to ask. This issue is nothing but Richard Rider going from trouble spot to trouble spot, putting down continental-level threats here, destroying a pod of Annihilation Wave Troop Drones over there. And it’s excellent… up until he decides to go back to Earth. There are horrible crises all over the universe in which only he can help (8X8, as they’re called) and after one small brush with death, he decides it’s time to visit the old farmstead? That is wildly irresponsible and complete bullshit. You go home when the job is done, soldier, and not a moment before. You feel like you’re burning out? Maybe you need a little R&R? Well, suck it up because some of these people need to not fucking die, you selfish hump. Look, I understand you’re the last surviving Nova Centurion and that blows and all, but you hardly got dealt the worst hand in this whole Annihilation Wave thing. People need you and you have a responsibility that is ridiculously more important than your homesickness.

She-Hulk #17

Brendan: The guy bitching to start She Hulk #17 is totally right, there are way to many splash pages in comics that barely serve any narrative purpose. Dan Slott and Rick Burchett go to great lengths to cram this issue full of panels and hilarity. Slott also caters to the complaints of continuity champions by explaining that the Punisher’s victims in War Journal #4 were all just really sick. I wonder if Roy Thomas used to award himself No-Prizes? We get an answer to the decades-long question, “Why stockpile Nick Fury Life Model Decoys if not to reveal his darkest secrets?” Finally, you’ll believe Avengers can bump uglies!

Adan: Remember that long-ass discussion Laura and I had a while back about the perceived difference between male and female promiscuity? Well, after sleeping with Tony Stark, She-Hulk asks this: “Tony? How do you get away with it? … Sleeping around. When you do it, everyone calls you a player. When I do it, they call me a skank. Isn’t that a double standard?” For the record, I think you’re both dirty, dirty sluts, but the important thing here is that before Tony could give her an answer, the Helicarrier attacked them. And then She-Hulk spends the rest of the issue fighting in her panties. It’s almost as if we’re trying to bullrush female fans away from the store, here. Could we maybe not have She-Hulk ask for or get asked for sex every issue? That’d be good, thanks. Otherwise, keep up the good work, because this book is consistently funny and I’m happy to see Matt Hawk doing something besides rotting in comic book limbo.

Thorgal TP

Adan: How is a Polish comic from the mid-eighties better than almost every American comic currently out? How is that remotely possible? Well, I actually have an answer to this. Every year, the Asian Film Festival hits New York (July is almost here!) and every year they showcase fantastic movies from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India, China, and many other Asian countries, and these films are consistently better than almost everything Hollywood puts out that year. The reason for this is because we only see the best from Asia at this Festival. And of course we only see the best – it would be a crappy film festival if we saw the mediocre or the downright bad movies from Asia. And they do exist, they just rarely make it out of their home countries into ours on any kind of scale, although I’m quite certain you could find the worst piece of crap from any Asian country in Chinatown (never watch Freeze Me from Japan; that movie is fucking bad). So, the question is not why is Thorgal, a science fiction-fantasy hybrid whose main character is a space boy named Thorgal Aegirsson and not a gal with the powers of Thor as I originally believed, better than almost everything put out by American companies, but why did it take so long for an English adaptation? This book was out in Poland in the mid-eighties and my Polish friend read when she was a kid. She loves it a lot and actually has a bunch of the Polish volumes with her still. I’d filpped through them before, admiring the fantastic art contained therein, and now I have a story that goes with it. You’d be insane not to but this book over everything else coming out this week (except maybe All-Star Superman and Fell, but you can afford them too).

Brendan: I had a blast with Thorgal. I will totally admit that I was unsure what to expect of this collection, all I could imagine was the ill conceived “Thor Girl” character from Dan Jurgens’ Thor run, (she had a cameo in last week’s Avengers: Initiative #1, thanks mandatory registration!), so when I found out that the “Thorgal” character wasn’t even a girl, well I was quiet perplexed. A new translation of a twenty year old Belgian comic, it is a beautifully illustrated work that straddles the genres. Visually it feels to be paced in a similar fashion to Dave Gibbons’ work on The Watchmen. The juxtaposition of myths both modern and ancient gives the flavor of Planetary. It feels like an old story, a boy is discovered by Vikings in a mysterious craft, and he is adopted as one of their own. He is unique, and he follows in the tradition of the Saga heroes. The translation can be a bit rough at times, but the backdrop makes for a convincing excuse. With the influx of period pieces in Hollywood, this book seems like fertile ground for producers. Check this one out if you have liked the translated works of Archaia Studios like The Killer, Okko, or Secret History. Also recommend it if you’ve been searching for that Viking story your life has been missing. If only for that stupid, misleading name…

Wasteland TP

Adan: I’ve been reading this book since it started as a I’m an avowed fan of everything Oni Press puts out, but I’m still a little confused as to the state of this post-apocalyptic world. The event, the “apocalypse” as it were, was called The Big Wet. What that Big Wet was, I don’t believe has actually been explained yet. Regardless, whatever this Big Wet was, it caused the planet to be as dry as bone. Also, for reasons also not known, the people seem to worship the Sun, even though they live in a vast wasteland of desert. More importantly, the cool prose pieces in the back of each issue detailing a little bit more of the world were left out of this collection, which is damn disappointing. Fortunately, the main story is still engaging enough with plenty of action and intrigue, and awesome characters. Antony Johnston and Christopher Mitten have awesome track records on their own. Here in this book, they dovetail nicely and continue their streaks of great work.

Brendan: Wasteland may end up being really awesome. It has the scope that it could go on for quite a few volumes and not run out of story. Similar to The Walking Dead, not only for its black and white artwork but also the ensemble cast of wanderers that populate the book, it could conceivably work for a long time. The world, America 100 years after the cataclysmic “Big Wet,” is developed at a pace reminiscent of Jeff Smith’s Bone, where we never know more than we need to, learning the ways of the world one conflict at a time. Take one part Wild West story, one part Kevin Costner’s Waterworld, (minus the suck), and one part Walking Dead, add a few Star Wars brand Sandpeople for posterity, and you’ll have Wasteland. I enjoyed the book a great deal, and am now definitely going to check out more of writer Anthony Johnson’s work. My main issue was with the work of artist Christopher Mitten. I thought the world looked consistent and was generally pleased, but there were more than a few occasions where I was unsure which character was which. Hopefully over the course of the series this issue will fade. I won’t be rushing in to catch up with the single issues of this series, but I am more than willing to let this book satisfy my science fiction dystopian craving whenever I see a new volume.

Wonder Woman #7

Brendan: My expectations have been very high for Jodi Picoult’s Wonder Woman ever since I finished her great novel, (with a comic illustrator as the protagonist), The Tenth Circle. The book featured deeply fleshed out characters, a meticulously constructed plot, and even comic narrative pages. Dealing heavily with concepts of good and evil, as well as a literal interpretation of Dante’s Hell, I could think of no one more suited to righting the book most damaged by scheduling. If you cannot deliver the goods on a supposedly more marketable relaunch, don’t cancel it in the first place. I understand the need for DC Editorial to move on, but the fact that the opening arc was left completely hanging, with the vague promise that the story will finish in the future, is wholly unacceptable.

So it is up to Picoult to make the character viable. There may be hope, but she has gotten off to a slow start. The story, involving Circe, Diana’s secret agent partner Nemesis, and the emotional gap between Wonder Woman and the human condition, seems transparent and clumsy. It feels as though the writing is merely a coloring in of the editorially mandated lines and lacks an original flavor. Like fellow NY Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer’s work, it seems as though this story will read much better upon completion. While the obvious adoration for the character was a saving grace for Heinberg, the unfamiliarity with the medium’s subtleties seems to hinder the new scribe. Drew Johnson returns to the title even more refined than when he left, and manages to maintain the look of the Dodsons’ vision. Hopefully the next issue will have a little more personality than the last two, and Wonder Woman will have a chance at being a consistently enjoyable book again.

Adan: I’m not entirely sure what Jodi Picoult is trying to do in this book, besides setting up that Amazons Attack nonsense. She seems to making some kind of statement as to what being human entails, but it’s getting lost in editorially mandated plot points, as well as baffling posturing from both Circe and Wonder Woman. Nemesis has some good lines in the book, but overall it falls flat. And that’s unfortunate because the industry needs more female writers. Hell, we need more female everything, but it’s not going to stick if every time someone wants to tell a story that maybe means something, editors slap down the next ultra-mega-super-uber crossover like the Word of God.