Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 2/24

Faith #2
Story: Jody Hauser
Art: Francis Portella, Marguerite Sauvage, & Andrew Dalhouse

The second issue of Faith is as absolutely enjoyable as the first, making it one of the most fun books on the racks right now. Having survived the explosion from the end of the first issue (not a surprise, as the comic is named after her after all), Faith now has an even more personal stake in hunting down the people who are kidnapping psiots. But Faith has a whole other life as Summer Smith, and she's not willing to give up her secret identity, so she also has to deal with work. And her boss at Zipline assigns Summer a takedown piece on Torque, who unbeknownst to the editor is Faith's ex-boyfriend, superhero turned reality star. Before I talk about that, I want to mention we're also getting a better feeling for what's happening to the kidnapped psiots, with them imprisoned somewhere surrounded by wealthy and beautiful people, once of whom seems to be sympathetic, but most who are vapid and unfeeling. Combine this with Torque not being willing to help Faith hunt down the missing psiots and his stereotypical reality star girlfriend, and we're seeing a theme of the callous upper class and society in general standing contrasted with Faith's caring. Faith also has her Torque piece rewritten by her boos because it didn't have enough bite, and the police aren't investigating the disappearance of Sam, the young psiot who Faith has been looking for. The fact that he disappeared when going to a fandom event gives him a kinship to both Faith and the readers, the majority of whom I'm sure have all gone to some convention, signing, or the like. But it's not all Faith at work and investigating. While doing that, Faith is discovered by the people who are hunting psiots, and Faith's relative naivete when it comes to secret identities (it's not the same as in the comics), gets her in quite a bind at the end of the issue. Faith is wonderfully well rounded character, so genuinely good, but with her own foibles and doubts, and the fantasy sequences drawn by Marguerite Sauvage are a great window into her head. Jody Hauser not only does a great job of giving us a well rounded heroine, but the references to Faith's previous adventures are not so dense that readers who have no previous exposure to the character get lost, but are tantalizing enough that its making me want to track down Harbinger trades. Faith #2 has a great balance of superheroics and character, and continues to build a mystery that has me waiting on bated breath for the next issue.

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1953- Beyond the Fences #1
Story: Mike Mignola & Chris Roberson
Art: Paolo Rivera, Joe Rivera, & Dave Stewart

I'm fairly sure I've said this before, but in case I haven't, Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. is a breath of fresh air in the overwhelming gloom of the current Hellboy-verse status quo. I love the stuff set in the present too, but everything there is so dire, so end of the world. We're around sixty years before hell on Earth here, so while there is still danger, things are allowed to be lighter, and Hellboy has always been the brightest light in these books, full of quips, humor, and more humanity than most humans. This mini-sereis sees Hellboy, Agent Susan Xiang (the psychic who shared a spotlight with Hellboy in the Hellboy Winter Special), and Agent Jacob Stegner to investigate what may be a monster killing children in Pasadena, California; children and pets have been disappearing, and the first adult victim has been found savaged, so the possibility of monster calls for the B.P.R.D. Xiang and Stegner are perfect opposites: Xiang is a person who tries to reach out to others and cares, enhanced by her natural empathic abilities, while Stegner is a sarcastic bastard who doesn't demonstrate the smallest amount of empathy. The mystery deepens as a scientist at local lab appears to have stolen a sample of enkeladite, an extradimensional mineral introduced in B.P.R.D.: 1948. The real charm of this issue is seeing Hellboy interact with kids. In the Hellboy comics, Hellboy was never a secret like in the movies, so he's a well known personality. As the cover above hints, Hellboy is popular with kids, and a bunch of them come looking for autographs, and when Hellboy gets away from them he finds a boy crying because his dog has gone missing, and Hellboy does his best to comfort the boy. It's a charming scene, and I've become so used to Hellboy dealing with monsters and the damned, I forget how good he is with people. It's nice to see this current series tying in aspects from the earlier B.P.R.D. series set in the '40s and the previous stories with Xiang; it adds to the tapestry of Hellboy's universe. This series is drawn by Paolo Rivera, a newcomer to the Mignolaverse, and just... wow. I love Rivera's work on Daredevil and The Valiant, and he absolutely hits a homerun here. His style isn't as moody and expressionistic as many artists who have worked on Hellboy comic before, but this story, set in the suburbs and much of it in the daytime, works with his more realistic style, but that's not to say he can't draw weird. The two page spread of Stegner and B.P.R.D. agents fighting monsters in 1948 is a sight to behold, and the monster at the end of the issue is not what I would have expected but looks great. I'm happy that there's more Hellboy out in the world, and if you're looking for a good Hellboy story that isn't heavy on the continuity, this is a great choice.

Orphan Black: Helsinki #4
Story: John Fawcett, Graeme Manson, & Heli Kennedy
Art: Wayne Nichols, Fico Ossio, & Sebastian Cheng

Orphan Black is one of the tensest shows I've ever seen on television, one that slowly ratchets up that tension to keep readers on the edge of their seats and asking all sorts of questions. The current tie-in mini-series, detailing events hinted at in the series, about a clone massacre in Helsinki,
has reached the point where the tension has my skin crawling in a good way. Our protagonist clone, Veera, has been captured by the people who are conducting the clone experiments, and the beginning of the issue is the action part of the issue, as Veera and Jade, a clone who has been kept at the facility and tested, make their escape. And once their escape has been made, the two of them, along with Niki, a third clone attempt to bring the cloning experiments to light. Even though I know the inevitable ending of this is going to be ugly, it's exciting to see the slow build, as the clones attempt to get out from under the Dyad Group, and the monitors close in. Series writer Heli Kennedy, working with Orphan Black creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson, have created a group of new clone characters that the reader can really engage with and care about, and that is going to make their eventual demise all the more painful, and matter all the more. The comic also takes us deeper into the relationship between self-aware clone Rachel, who works for Dyad, and Ferdinand, the cleaner (the nice term for their corporate killer) who works for them. The relationship was made clear in Ferdinand's appearances in the TV series, but seeing exactly how Rachel played him and got her to submit to her desires gives more dimension to both characters. Helsinki is a worthy addition to the mythology of Orphan Black, and a must read for any fan of the show.

Rick and Morty #11
Story:
Art:

A lot of tie-in comics try their hardest to capture he feeling of their source material, and while the hit to miss ratio feels better recently than in the past, its really rare to find an issue of a comic that feels like it could have been an episode of its source material. The Rick and Morty series from Oni is one hat pretty much always hits, and this week's issue is so delightfully and perfectly warped, it captures all the flavor of the series. As is standard in an episode of R&M, there are two plots here, a Rick and Morty plot and a plot revolving around the rest of the family. Rick and Morty's plot, while definitely the wackier, is he less character-centric here. Rick enrolls Morty in a virtual alien high school so he can get through the whole high school experience in one day. Of course, as with everything Rick has Morty do, there's way more danger involved here. Every time Morty fails, he has to rerun the lesson until he gets it right. A particularly funny one involves a little... risky business, shall we say. And just when Morty tells Rick to go shove it and seems to be making out OK on his own, well, things get kinda lethal and there's a callback to what seemed like a throwaway line a the beginning of the issue that comes back in a hilarious fashion. The b-plot, which is far more strange and character driven involves Morty's sister, Summer, and their hapless dad, Jerry, going full on Freak Friday thanks to messing with Rick's tech. Instead of having some great adventure together where they come to understand each other better, Jerry takes Summer's friends on a camping trip which seems to go over well, and Summer, well, she gets a call from Beth, her mom, who is ready for, "Beth and Jerry's Crazy Sexy Weekend Part two: Naughtytown for Me and You." We cut away from that pretty quickly, but the end of the story, and Beth's reaction, indicates nothing untoward happened, and that seems to have improved things between Beth and Jerry. The look on Summer's face as she glares at Jerry once they're back in their bodies is one of the best panels in the issue, as is Morty's reaction to Rick once Rick tries to get all sentimental on him. That sort of unexpected twist on the usual emotional beats of a family story is central to Rick and Morty, as is the warped takes on classic sci-fi tales, two things this issue has in spades and makes it perfect reading for fans of the show.

And Dan Grote reviews the much delayed and anticipated return of Warren Ellis's Karnak...

Karnak #2

Story by Warren Ellis

Art by Gerardo Zaffino, Antonio Fuso and Dan Brown

A personal matter in the life of artist Gerardo Zaffino sidelined one of All-New, All-Different Marvel’s first books, but writer Warren Ellis’ latest jerk protagonist is back with an issue that is almost entirely action.

Zaffino and co-artist Antonio Fuso make up for the wait with an issue full of martial-arts ultraviolence. Necks get snapped, faces get bashed in, eyes get gouged out and guns are shattered with the wave of a hand, all in a blur of action lines and hatch marks. Little seems to stand still. Everything, and nearly everyone, is destroyed.

Oh and hey, there’s a story, too.

Karnak, at the behest of SHIELD (see last issue) has been tasked with going after an AIM splinter cell that has kidnapped a boy who underwent terrigenesis – the transformation by which Inhumans acquire their powers – only to find the process did little more than clear up his allergies. The baddies’ base is run by a priest who claims the boy is a messiah who went with them of his own volition.

Also, said priest can make guns out of zen, which wins the award for Most Warren Ellis Thing This Issue.

Karnak dispatches the priest, but the boy is nowhere to be found. Before Karnak kills him, the priest tells him the boy is someplace called the Chapel of the Single Shadow, promising his killer a journey of discovery.

A flashback at the beginning of the issue reveals there’s some discovery to be had. We see a young Karnak stacking blocks while his parents – off-camera – argue about whether to expose their son to the Terrigen Mists, mostly because it didn’t work out so hot for his older brother, Triton, the merman-looking one. The priest knows this about Karnak, calls him “The Fake Inhuman.” The issue ends with Karnak alone outside a German bistro, watching couples do couple-y things on the street. Does a man who finds basic human needs a weakness still feel those needs himself? Hopefully we don’t have to wait another four months to find out.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 11/18

Bizzaro #6
Story: Heath Corson
Art: Gustavo Duarte  & Pete Pantazis with guest page from Tim Sale & Dave Stewart

Bizarro and Jimmy Olsen's road trip ends with quite a bang, an issue full of guest stars, guest artists, and some really heartfelt moments. After last issue when Bizarro found out Jimmy was travelling with him to produce a photo book of the trip, Superman's imperfect clone left Jimmy in the Nevada desert and headed back to Metropolis. While Jimmy is quickly captured by Queen Tut, the nemesis he and Bizarro made back in issue one, seeking revenge for Bizarro hypnotizing her dad, King Tut (the pharaoh of used car sales), into thinking he's a chicken, Bizarro meets Superman. This is the first meeting between Bizarro and Superman in the new continuity of the post-Flashpoint DC Universe, an d it's a very different meeting than you'd expect. No blows are exchanged, and Bizarro simply gets to talk to Superman, the conversation starting with a beautiful splash page by Time Sale in his Superman for All Seasons mode. The Superman who appears here feels like the wiser, more worldly and friendly Superman of the pre-Flashpoint world (there's even a joke about the missing red trunks), and his conversation with Bizarro about friendship and Bizarro listens and understands, heading out to save Jimmy when Queen Tut threatens Jimmy on national TV. During the battle, all the friends Bizarro has made, from bounty hunter Chastity Hex, to Kilowog, to Zatannam to a pair of FBI agents that look suspiciously familiar if you followed a certain '90s TV show about the paranormal, come in to lend a hand, even Colin the alien chupacabra, who returns from space. It's a big, silly, exciting action comic, and ends with Bizarro and Jimmy reconciling, working on the book together, and arriving at Canada to the nicest bum's rush you've ever seen (they're Canadian after all). With the adventure over, the pair return to Metropolis and whatever adventures might remain in the future. Bizarro was one of the best mini-series that came out of the most recent DC wave of titles; it was fine, all ages fair, and I hope that we get another adventure from Bizarro and Jimmy soon. By the way, I considered writing most of this revue in Bizarro speech, but after two sentences, I wanted to smack myself, so I could only imagine how you would have felt. You're welcome.

Harley Quinn #22
Story: Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti
Art: Chad Hardin & Alex Sinclair

Harley Quinn is one of those books that is so consistently good that it sometimes falls off my review radar because it's hard to find something new to say. But this week's new issue is such a perfect example of everything that's great about this book, it's a good time to call it out. After an adventure in Hollywood, Harley is returning home with a bunch of new acquisitions, courtesy of Deadshot's stolen credit cards, only to find plenty of problems waiting. Zena Bendemova, Russian femme fatale and nemesis of Sy Borgman, the geriatric cyborg who lives in the retirement home that Harley works at in her day job, has been resurrected by her grandson, and she has sworn revenge against Harley and Sy. Plus, Harley's current boyfriend, Mason, is in jail for manslaughter and has a hit out on him in jail. These are the kind of things Harley has to deal with on a day to day basis. After being attacked by some of Zena's amazonian warriors (amazonian with a small a; they're big and tough and female, not from Paradise Island) in a fight scene that is equal parts funny and brutal, Harley gets home to find out about Mason and the fact that Zena, or since Harley doesn't know she's back from the dead someone who is working out Zena's vendetta, has kidnapped Sy, Harley has to divide and conquer. She splits up her Gang of Harleys, taking some to save Mason and leaving the others to track down Sy. That's a lot to happen on one issue to begin with, and its interspersed with Harley getting some revenge on rude construction workers,  a scene of Mason narrowly averting being murdered, and Harley having a sweet talk with a nice man she met on the plane back from L.A. Writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti have created a wide and diverse cast for Harley, from her gang of Harleys to the tenants of her building and the people at her nursing home, and we get to see a little bit of everyone in this issue, which never feels overwrought or busy. It's a great comic, and if you're reading a title like Deadpool and haven't tried Harley Quinn, you should really jump on now.

Orphan Black: Helsinki #1
Story: John Fawcett, Graeme Manson, Heli Kennedy, & Dennis Tipton
Art: Alan Quah, Jeffrey Huet, & Chris Fenoglio

IDW's first mini-series based on the best sci-fi show (and a contender for best show period) on TV right now, Orphan Black, filled in little details about the backgrounds of our principal clone cast. This new series tells the story of events hinted at in the most recent season of the show, the wiping out of a group of clones in Helsinki. It's a completely different cast from the show, so all bets are off on who will and won't survive, and since the story comes from the show's creators, this is official canon. Our principal clone this series is Veera Suominen, a teenage clone with burn scars in her face we met briefly at the end of last series. When Veera finds the uncle she has been living with had spying devices in her room and the name of two other girls on his computer, she runs away to find the nearest of those girls and expose her uncle's child pornography operation. Of course, readers know he's really monitoring them for the cloning project, but Veera doesn;t know that, and so she heads to find Niki Lintula, who lives nearby. To do this, the socially isolated Veera, a girl who's scars make her stand out and who has been home schooled to keep her away from other children, infiltrates Niki's scool. It's heartbreaking to see Veera try to interact with other kids and freezes up when doing it, and to see what happens when she sees Niki, who is a flawless, blonde version of herself. The issue doesn't have a lot of the science fiction and action that are a part of Orphan Black, but it succeeds in being a strong study of a character, really getting into Veera's head in a way that TV can't, with a story narrated exclusively by her. It also succeeds in capturing the atmosphere of Orphan Black, with a sense of disconnection and paranoia as a clone begins to understand so much of what she believes about the world isn't right, multiplied in this case tenfold by Veera's isolation. It's a strong start to the series, one that looks to add an important chapter to the overall mythos of Orphan Black.

Star Wars #12
Story: Jason Aaron
Art: Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, Justin Ponsor

Back when he was writing The Authority, Warren Ellis talked about widescreen storytelling in comics. He was talking not just about page layouts with big panels and lots of action, but a certain way stories should be told, with those same sensibilities in mind. If there is any comic that should have that kind of thinking, it's Star Wars, the movie franchise that defined modern widescreen movies. The last part of the second arc of Marvel's new Star Wars series is a widescreen story, packed to the gills with action and adventure. We get a small battle between Han, Leia, Chewie, and the bounty hunter Dengar, followed by a huge battle in Grakkus the Hutt's arena with monsters and stromtroopers that ends with a visually stunning moment or two that I don't want to give away. I know some purists will be bothered by that moment, but it's one of those things that I have to get past my inner fanboy and embrace my inner child, what it would have looked like if I was a kid see certain characters doing something that you never saw them do in the movies that is just plain awesome. I want to see more of Grakkus, a Hutt who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, and Sgt. Kreel, the stormtrooper undercover in Grakkus's operation. But mixed in with all the action, we get some nice character moments for Princess Leia and Sana, the woman claiming to be Han Solo's wife, so the issue isn't a wall-to-wall actionfest. Add in a last page cameo from Darth Vader, and you get a comic that any casual Star Wars fan would love, and one that does some nice things for us diehards. This week also saw the release of the one-shot that kicks off the first Marvel Star Wars crossover, "Vader Down," which is also an excellent comic and a great jumping on point if you want to try out some Star Wars comics before The Force Awakens.

Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #1
Story: Robert Venditti
Art: Raul Allen & Patricia Martin

When we last saw Gilad Anni-Padda, the Eternal Warrior, at the end of Valiant's Book of Death event mini-series, he was, well, dead. This issue shows readers what happens when Gilad dies, but before he returns from the dead, and after seeing the fields of the Deadside filled with monsters,we see where he awakens, and it is not what you might expect. Gilad arrives in a heaven of his own making, with his wife and children waiting for him and excited to see him. But they all know that it's only temporary. Leena, Gila's wife, is especially saddened by the fact she knows Gilad will be leaving them again sooner than they'd like. The issue is mostly an idyllic domestic scene, with Gilad playing with his children, eating a fine dinner, and lying with his wife. I'm curious to known a little more about Gilad's heaven, as the children clearly have different mothers, and I wonder if these are all the children Gilad has fathered in his six thousand years of life; also I am curious to see what more wwe will learn of Kalam, Gilad's eldest child in this realm, who spends his days stubbornly shooting arrows into targets Robin Hood style, splitting arrow after arrow. Is he . Gilad is so often portrayed as this unstoppable, resolute force, the fist and steel of the Earth, that it makes for  very different scene to see him not only with his family in a place where he doesn't need to fight, but more to see how tired he seems as he tell's Leena of his most recent "trip." And to think that Gilad and his family views this afterlife as his true home and the world of the living as the place he goes on business trips makes it even sadder than Gilad knows that he must return. And as the issue ends and he hears the voices of the monsters that exist in the Deadside waiting for him to begin his trip back, we know that it isn't a simple thing for him to just will himself back to life. Robert Venditti's script is excellent, but Raul Allen's art takes it to a whole other level. He draws both the agrarian beauty of Gilad's farm haven and the nightmare of the blasted Deadside with equal adeptness, and his Gilad in particular is expressive; you can see in his eyes all six thousand years he has lived. Eternal Warrior was my favorite character from classic Valiant, and I've enjoyed his other series and his appearances in other titles, but the first issue of Wrath of the Eternal Warrior feels like the beginning of the series that this character deserves, a blend of magic, history, and character. If you've never read a Valiant title before, this is the time to start.

And because we know you can't get enough, Dan Grote reviews this week's new Deadpool...

Deadpool #2

Story:  Gerry Duggan

Art: Mike Hawthorne, Terry Pallot, & Val Staples

Something is rotten in Deadmark. More on that later.

The first issue of the all-new, all-different adventures of Wade Wilson & Co. set up all the players on the board, both new and old, but this issue focuses largely on Deadpool’s new team of mercenaries, who have grown tired of running pro bono missions and generally doing more good works than good-paying ones, “like we’re Santas that bring justice,” per Terror.

To teach them a lesson, DP sends them on a paying gig in which a landlord aims to evict to the decent, hard-working tenants in his building so he can turn the units into condos. Suddenly, some of the mercs develop a conscience, and we see what they do with their ill-gotten gains.

While they all begrudgingly wear the same costumes and are obsessed with getting paid, the creative team is doing a good job of making each member of Deadpool’s Heroes for Hire a distinct personality. Slapstick, who should be another irritating source of comic relief, a la Deadpool or Madcap, is completely miserable but still looks like someone sprayed silly string all over the Joker’s head and then drew him into an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Madcap is obsessed with hats and speaks in his now-trademark Courier New balloons, while all the other Deadpools speak in Wade’s classic yellow balloons when the masks are on. Solo is the handsome one in the James Bond/Jason Bourne vein and among the earliest to develop a conscience, with Stingray, the former Avenger and lone Deadpool capable of flight, not far behind. Foolkiller is the most hardened of the lot, still money uber alles in the face of everything. Terror, the human organ harvester, appears to be the same way, then gives his cut of the inappropriate-eviction gig to the wife and son of an abusive man whom he proceeds to beat the living crap out of.

Issue’s end returns us to Deadpool HQ, where we sadly are forced to say goodbye to a member of Wade’s now-former family. I won’t say who, but I will say that someone is pretending to be the real Deadpool, the one in the black-and-red suit with the hood whose fashion sense I so highly praised last time around (seriously, get on the POP variant, Funko). Who the impostor is is not revealed, but it does have something to do with the truth about who killed Deadpool’s parents.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go pour some sizzurp on the concrete for [redacted].

Gotham Season 2, Episode 1, "Damned If You Do"

Hey, look, Gotham's back! Gotham had a first season that was enjoyable, if incredibly uneven, and so much of enjoying it had to do with ignoring it as any precursor to an established Batman mythos, something the final episodes of last season completely cemented by throwing off the reins of any established canon. So, I came back to it with last night's premiere unsure of where I stood with this, a re-imagining of the origins of many of my favorite comic book characters. And I've decided Gotham is like that friend you have, the one who's fun at parties, but makes lots of bad decisions, and all you can do is shake your head and enjoy it when they win, or don't screw up entirely. They're good intentioned, and sometimes pull of a Hail Mary pass, but wow, what you have to do to get there.

I will say, flat out, that Gotham made some improvements this first episode. The main one, the one that leapt out at me, was that it handled its mammoth cast better than at any point last year. While there were still three plotlines (more if you count some brief touches), each and every one connected to a main plot, with Jim Gordon being kicked off the GCPD and having to find a way to get back on the force. While Bruce had his own thing going on, trying to break into his father's proto-Batcave, and Barbara Kean and the loonies in Arkham were being the loonies in Arkham, Gordon encountered each of them and we saw how they effected his decision. And Penguin's plot simply tied in to Gordon's, without there being anything going on aside from that. Riddler was a little more off to the side, but we'll get to that in a bit. Still, there were no plotlines that seemed to be sitting out in right field, not tying in to anything going on in the main plot of the series, which is a focus sorely lacking last year.

Even though the plot was consistent, there were some holes that you could drive a truck through. Gordon needing to go to Penguin to oust Commissioner Loeb seemed a questionable decision for a number of reasons, the largest being that Gordon has dirt on Loeb. There was a whole episode last season that ended with Gordon knowing Loeb's daughter killed her mother and Loeb covered it up. While Gordon might be too noble to use it, to completely ignore it seemed an odd choice. I can ignore lapses in logic that are intrinsic to a show, but simple ignoring events that are key to the show's past seems odd (frankly, that entire episode seems to be ignored, as no one has since mentioned that Gordon is head of the policeman's union).

I'm also wondering where the series is going to go with Gordon having killed a man while doing a favor for Penguin. I have to really work to wrap my brain around a Gordon who would do that, as it is completely anathema to the Jim Gordon I've read for three decades (although not to the one in Geoff Johns's Batman: Earth One, which I think the producers have been drawing some inspiration from). I'm hoping that this is an action that haunts Gordon, and not in the "Penguin is holding it over his head," way. I know Gordon has no problems taking a life when threatened in the line of duty, and I'm fine with that. But Ben McKenzie's excellent moment when he tells Leslie Thompkins, "I did a bad thing," should be something that comes back around later on.

The performances on Gotham continue to move between the sublime and the grotesque in the best possible ways. I give all the actors on the show credit for taking what they're given and committing wholeheartedly to it. There are smaller performances, like Donal Logue's Bullock, where he's much more at peace than we saw him all last year. Robin Lord Taylor continues to impress as the Penguin, and I really enjoy David Mazouz's Bruce Wayne. The Arkham crew were a delighful group of scene stealers; now that she's insane and villainous, I am enjoying Erin Richards's Barbara Kean 1000 times more, and while I don't think Cameron Monaghan's Jerome is going to be the Joker in the end, he's a pleasant maniac to watch. And my usual kudos go out to Anthony Carrigan, whose Victor Zsasz is my favorite character on this show, with his wicked performance that can switch from manic glee to violent terror in moments.

I have some issue with the direction of Edward Nygma, though none of that has to do with Cory Michael Smith's performance. The schizophrenic, talking to a slick version of himself in the mirror thing is out of character for Riddler. And I know I said you have to embrace a different mind set when looking at this show, since these aren't any version of these characters we've seen before, but we will be seeing more of district attorney Harvey Dent this season, and having two characters with the same kind of dark side and rage issues seems redundant, although Evil Ed meets Big Bad Harv might be fun (and before anyone corrects me, I know the Big Bad Harv thing is DCAU only, not straight DC canon, but it works so well here, I had to use it).

And this wouldn't be Gotham if we didn't introduce at least a couple new characters, in this case the mysterious Galvan siblings. We didn't get much from Tabitha yet, although Jessica Lucas imbues her embryonic Tigress with enough cold calculating power and violence that you know she is no one to be messed with. Her brother, the seeming new criminal mastermind of the season, Theo, is played by James Frain, an actor who I am an unabashed fan of. Frain is one of those "that guy" actors, someone who appears in everything, and is often the villainous Brit. Whether it's as vampire Franklin Mott on True Blood, corporate baddie Ferdinand on Orphan Black (the best sci-fi show on television now. You should be watching it), wicked prince Eric Renard on Grimm (the best supernatural superhero show on TV now, and one with no comic book antecedent), the supervillain Chess on The Cape (remember The Cape? Six seasons and a movie never happened there, sorry Abed), or a slew of other characters, Frain brings a palpable sense of menace to his antagonists that I admire. I'm looking forward to seeing what Frain and his Legion of Madmen do.

Other episode highlights included Bruce and Alfred building a bomb and high-fiving when it works, Barbara's little phone call to Leslie, and the production design on Penguin's minions and the club Gordon goes to collect Penguin's money. Whatever else you have to say about this show, it is designed gorgeously,

So, where are we with Gotham now? Is the show perfect? By no stretch. Is it a fun carnival ride of madness and poor decision making by characters who should know better? Absolutely. And really, that's all I'm asking for at this point.

Missing Your Favorite TV Show? Try These Comics!

It's summer time again, meaning hot weather, cookouts, and more reality TV than you can shake a stick at. Yes, most TV shows are on summer break now, so what are you to do to occupy those entertainment hours? Why binge read comics, naturally. And I'm here to help! Here are some comics that I feel would appeal to fans of some of TV's more popular shows. Some I've talked about before, some are new, but I think there's something here for everyone. I'm steering clear of traditional super hero comics for this one to give some more exposure to books from outside the big two mainstream (although there will be a Vertigo book), and I'm not touching on The Walking Dead. If you haven't tried the comic already, nothing I say will change that.

If you like Games of Thrones, you'd enjoy East of West

Game of Thrones is known for its massive cast, sweeping storylines, and mix of fantasy with a real world grit. Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta's East of West has a similar flair with a sci-fi twist. Set in an alternate world where the Civil War caused America to splinter into The Seven Nations, the future is a world flavored with both advanced science, mysticism, and the feel of the wild west. As the series begins, a pale rider appears with his two Native American allies, and he begins hunting those responsible for his death. For this is Death himself, returned to the flesh to kill those who took his wife from him. But the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse have come in the flesh again, and they are manipulating a cabal of officials within all the governments of the American nations to bring about the Apocalypse. It's a wild, well developed world of crazy sci-fi, fantasy, and horror tropes all existing together. You can go from an issue dealing with the inner politics of the nation of African descent, to an issue about a sheriff who decided justice wasn't found in the law anymore and is hunting the cabal, and the next seeing Death confronting an oracle to learn how to find his newest target. The cast is sprawling, each of the plotlines having its own and they only seem to glance off each other, and the machinations would make Littlefinger's head spin. Oh, and there's at least one scene of GoT style sexposition. If you've ever enjoyed any comic by Jonathan Hickman, or any TV show or movie of high stakes political drama or futuristic dytopia, try East of West.


If you like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, you'd enjoy Quantum and Woody

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is the hilarious cop show comedy starring Andy Samberg that debuted this season, and it does a great job of balancing the comedy with actual police procedural, while being a sitcom at its core. There are plenty of comics that mix humor with superheroics, but I can't think of any comic that is really a sit com with superhero trappings on the wracks now that works better than Valiant's Quantum and Woody written by James Asmus. Erik and Woody Henderson are adopted brothers who haven't seen each other in years until their father's death. Now, Woody is back in Eric's life, and bringing the chaos he always does, including accidentally getting them super powers while investigating their father's death that mean they have to touch the wristbands they now are forced to wear once a day or they both just dissipate. It's classic odd couple comedy, with Eric (whose superhero codeman is Quantum) as the straight man, responsible and straight laced, who wants to use his powers for good, while Woody wants to make money and get laid; and by the end of the first arc hes's brought a sexy clone of their first evil mastermind and a superpowered goat home with him to Eric's apartment. The comic lives and dies by the relationship between the characters and the fact that, as much of a screw up as Woody is, he's a likable screw up, while Eric is stiff, but is a likable stiff. And they have a pet goat that could go hoof-to-talon with Chew's Poyo (now, that's a crossover I want to see), so what's not to love?


If you like Orphan Black, you'd like Lazarus

Orphan Black is BBC America's sci-fi series about cloning, genetic engineering, corporations, and family, starring Tatiana Maslany in what is probably the strongest performance in mainstream media right now, playing not one but eight different rolls, five of them appearing regularly. And if you're looking for a comic with a high sci-fi concept, questions that deal with modern society and science, and a kick ass female lead, you need go no further than Greg Rucka and Michael Lark's Lazarus. In the not too distant future, corporations run the world, and each corporation is run by a family, and each family has a defender/enforcer called a Lazarus. The Carlyle family is one of the most powerful of these families, and their Lazarus is Forever Carlyle, daughter of the family patriarch. Forever (or Eve) has been engineered to be nigh-indestructible, faster and stronger than normal humans, and indoctrinated to be undyingly loyal to the family. But things are not as they seem, as squabbles between her siblings (all normal humans) created fractures in the family, and Eve begins receiving messages saying that her whole life is a lie. Eve is not just strong, but she's clever, and more than a little bit broken, the hallmarks of a Greg Rucka heroine. There are secrets, plots within plots, and a cast of characters that you can never be sure you can trust. It's sci-fi drama with the same tense character drama as Orphan Black, but with a scope that can't be done on a basic cable budget. And I now can't help but think of Tatiana Maslany as the only actress to possibly play Eve in a film adaptation. But that's just me.


If you like The Blacklist, you'd like Thief of Thieves

I can think of very few performances on TV as engaging as James Spader's one as criminal mastermind turned FBI informant Raymond "Red" Reddington on The Blacklist; Spader plays the part with equal parts grace, humor, and coldblooded ruthlessness. He's really just a supervillain. And I don't know if anyone could pull that off. But if you like elaborate capers with a criminal as your protagonist, you should check out Thief of Thieves. Masterminded by Robert Kirkman, with various writers working on different arcs, and all drawn by Shawn Martinbrough, Thief of Thieves is the story of Redmond, the world's greatest thief, who decides to give up the business and try to settle down under his real name of Conrad Paulson and try to make amends with his estranged wife and adult son. But the life isn't willing to let him escape. A dedicated FBI agent who knows Paulson is Redmond continues to hound him. His son tries to live up to his father's rep and gets deeper and deeper into trouble. And his cohorts know he had one more big score planned before he dropped out. So now, Redmond is back in the game, and has to outsmart everyone by playing all sides against the middle. It's a caper book that starts out slow and picks up steam quickly as our protagonist finds himself in worse trouble, stuck with enemies from the Mafia, Mexican drug cartels, and law enforcement, and in the end, as the tag line for the series said, "There's nothing he can't steal... except the life he left behind."


If you like Breaking Bad or Justified, you'd like Scalped

TV has developed a love affair with the anti-hero. You can have a main character who isn't the lantern jawed hero anymore, and few characters better typify this shift than Breaking Bad's Walter White and Justified's Raylan Givens. Scalped is a modern noir where every character exists in shades of grey, created by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. Dash Bad Horse has come back to the Prairie Rose Reservation where he grew up down on his luck. It looks like Dash needs to start over, and so gets in with Lincoln Red Crow, the chief of the tribal and the local gang lord. But quickly, it is revealed that Dash is undercover FBI, sent by an old nemesis of Red Crow's in the bureau to bring him down. But after his mother is murdered, Dash begins to spiral downwards, and the waters around him get murkier. Friends might be enemies, and enemies might be the best allies Dash could have. I wrote a full recommended reading for Scalped a while back, right after the final trade came out, and you can read that right here. Scalped is also in development for a TV series, so get in at the ground floor now.


If you like Guardians of the Galaxy or Serenity, you'd like Defiance

OK, so this last one is an inversion; it's a summer TV show that appeals to the same sensibilities as some of my favorite comics. One of the great pleasures of Guardians of the Galaxy and both the Serenity comics and their TV ancestor, Firefly, is the down on their luck heroes in the big sci-fi world. Defiance, which began it's second season last week on SyFy, is set in an Earth after the aliens have arrived; specifically various races who go by the collective title of Votans. After the war, all technology has been thrown back to a pre-computer age, and humans and Votans must work together to survive on Earth. Set in what was once St. Louis, now the city of Defiance, the series focuses on Joshua Nolan, who arrives in town and winds up becoming the sheriff, his adopted alien daughter, Irissa, and various locals, including the mayor, Amada Rosewater, the local magnate, Rafe McCawley, and local alien mobster Datak Tarr as well as their respective families. It has that same grungy, used world feeling that Firefly perfectly captured, and our heroes are always out of their depths, yet pull off a win most of the time. Other than compelling plots and well rounded characters, the thing that grabs me about Defiance is the world building. The seven alien races all have distinct looks, languages, and cultures that are distinct from one another. It's such a well thought out world it grabs you and pulls you right in. The first season is streaming on Amazon Instant Video (free if you have Prime) and is out on DVD, so you can get caught up and catch the new episodes as they air.