Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 6/8

Birthright #16
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas

The fourth arc of Birthright begins an arc that looks like it's going to provide answers to many of the series long burning questions. Birthright is usually a strong mix of action and character, but this issue mostly takes a step back from the action and gives us a very strong dose of character. We don't get much more of the most awkward dinner ever between the sorcerer Mastema and the mother of our protagonists, Wendy, and Mikey's ex/friend.babymama, Rya, before two of the remaining other mages, Kylen and Enoch show up to discuss what to do about finding Mikey and the betrayal of their fellow, Samael. But after only a few pages of this, we're back with Mikey, his brother Brennan, his dad Aaron, and Samael, revealed to be the boy's grandfather, Aaron's father. If we got the impression from the end of the previous issue that Aaron has some issues with his dad, And now we can see how, as hard as it would be for anyone to be accused of the murder of their son, and to have their son disappear, how much this plays right into the issues Aaron has as the son of a father who abandoned him. And how furious he is that his father, who knew about the magical land of Terrenos, never came to him and his family in their hour of need, when Mikey was gone. And Samael may have good reasons, but his evasion and his simply saying that he has good reasons without explaining anything? That doesn't make him sound like the most trustworthy of guys. We also get more explanation of Brennan's burgeoning mystical abilities, and his use of them sets off what looks to be the series next major fight scene. A series with so many mysteries needs to start paying them off eventually, and as Williamson has proven in his other creator owned series, he knows when the time is ripe for some answers. Ad as good as the story is, and it's very good, the art on this issue is Andrei Bressan's best. Not only do we have great character moments in the faces of both Samael and Aaron, but Bressan gets to draw Samael's lair, a treasure trove of mystical artifacts. This is always something an artist can have fun with, but this particular treasure trove is littered with props from many classic fantasy movies. In a once over I saw all sorts of stop motion creatures from Harryhausen movies, the skull of the pirate from Goonies, Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, the crocodile from Hook, and the Wicker Man from, well, The Wicker Man. I'm a big fan of Easter Eggs, and the two page spread that introduces Samael's treasure room is just packed with them. Birthright is an exciting, character-driven modern fantasy story, and one for fans of the stories that explore the thin line between fantasy and reality. The first three arcs are out in trade, so it would be easy for you to catch up and start grabbing the single issues as things really start speeding forward.

Detective Comics #934
Story: James Tynion IV
Art: Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, & Adriano Lucas

"DC:Rebirth" keeps moving forward, and you'll be seeing a lot of it this week. We're starting it with the new issue of Detective Comics, which returns to its original numbering. Detective has been the most inconsistent of the Batman titles since the Flashpoint changeover, a book that has ranged from some excellent arcs to some of the worst Batman comics I've read. The new dawn of the series takes aspects from various places, including Batman & Robin Eternal and the late Batwoman series, and starts creating a new Batman team title. There's a lot of mystery built into this first issue, as someone is impersonating Batman and using scientifically advanced drones to chase down other Gotham vigilantes. With this going on, Batman recruits Batwoman, who has a military background, to serve as team leader and drill sergeant for a team of young vigilantes, specifically Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan (Cassandra Cain's new identity, and one reforming villain, Clayface, who Batwoman worked with at the end of her own series. I probably have every appearance of Batwoman, and while she has shared page time with Batman before, this issue felt like the most substantive meeting between the two. In the past, Batman has mostly given her his usual routine when a vigilante is in Gotham he hasn't trained, the, "This is my city," shtick. But here, he's reaching out to her for help, and it's the more stable Batman on the end of Scott Snyder's run we're seeing here, someone who is willing to work with people and not be the paranoid figure he has often been portrayed as in the past fifteen years or so. To really show that, he unmasks in front of Kate Kane, and we get to see her react on the best possible way, "I've been waiting for you to admit it for the last year and a half." And the utterly shocked look on Bruce's face is priceless; it's rare to see Batman surprised, and it's a nice change, We get little bits of each of the characters on the team, probably the least with Red Robin, which I'm a bit sad about as I've been waiting for Tim Drake to have a regular spot in a Bat book since the post-Flashpoint universe began, but he's got time. I like the feeling we get for Orphan, who is still haunted by the events of Batman & Robin Eternal, Spoiler, who plays up her name a lot more than it was played up in her pre-Flashpoint years as someone who spoils the plans of villains, and the scene where Batman and Batwoman find Clayface actually does a good job of making Clayface a more sympathetic figure, much more akin to his Batman: The Animated Series portrayal then the mustache twirling Basil Karlo of the comics. And we see Kate Kane still dealing with the fallout of her disagreements with her father and I assume her final break-up with Maggie Sawyer, who appeared back in Metropolis in the week's Action Comics. I hope we get to see a lot of the dangling threads from Batwoman's series played out here as the series progresses. This was an excellent debut issue, a great way to introduce new readers to these characters, and a really enjoyable issue for old time Bat fans looking to see the next generation of the Batman family back together.

Flash: Rebirth #1
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Carmine Di Giandomenico & Ivan Plascencia

Flash: Rebirth actually combines aspects from both of the above reviews: It's part of "DC: Rebirth" and is written by Joshua Williamson. So much of this issue is new series writer Joshua Williamson giving readers his view if Barry Allen. Barry is having a hard time of things here: he's been assigned to a murder case that oddly resembles his mother's, and he's having visions. If you read DC Universe: Rebirth, you know those visions are connected to Wally West trying to make his way back into the world, and we get to see the sequence from that one shot from Barry's point of view, and it still warms my heart. Barry is such a warm, friendly guy, and seeing him with his protege and surrogate son just brings out the best in him. And I am such a huge fan of  this Wally West, I'm just glad to see him back. The sadness that he is experiencing, knowing that most of the people he knows and loves, and the confusion that his Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry are "just friends" in this reality, is palpable. And if I wasn't pleased enough that I see Barry interacting with Wally, I get to see Barry interact with my favorite character of all time as well, Batman. I like that Williamson doesn't have Barry and Bruce interact as detectives, since that's not what Barry really is, but as scientists, which is how Barry thinks of himself. This issue is the first to really build on the reveals of the DCU: Rebirth one-shot, and begins Batman and Flash's investigation into what changed the universe and what's happened to them, analyzing the Comedian's button that Batman found in the cave. We don't get any answers, but a lot is set up for the future of the series. The wrap up of the case Barry was investigating has some very different hints, hints of Professor Zoom being back in the picture. I'm personally left to wonder if the Zoom who is imprisoned in Iron Heights, the New 52 Zoom, is still there and the yellow blur we see is the pre-52 Zoom, somehow having survived his apparent death in Flashpoint, and is now an agent of Dr. Manhattan, or simply is back to his old tricks of screwing with Barry. The art from Carmine Di Giandomenico is absolutely gorgeous, and really captures the feel of speed, and the colors by Plascencia add to it, making for a visually striking comic. With this issue, we have an excellent starting issue that gives readers a good idea of who Barry Allen is and what his world is like, who his supporting cast is, and a taste of what's to come.

Wonder Woman: Rebirth #1
Story: Greg Rucka
Art: Matthew Clark, Sean Parsons, and Jeremy Caldwell & Liam Sharp and Laura Martin

This first issue of Wonder Woman in the Rebirth era is about truth and contradictions. Greg Rucka start his new run on this series by examining the contradictions between Wonder Woman's pre-Flashpoint origin and her post-Flashpoint one, between how the world looks at her and how the world looks at other heroes. As with most of the Rebirth one-shots, this issue feels like a statement on where the character is and how the creators perceive them, so it is also lighter on the action, but is filled with a thoughtful examination of Wonder Woman as a character. Greg Rucka's previous run on the character leading up to Infinite Crisis is my favorite Wonder Woman run, so I'm thrilled to see him back, and I love how he embraces all the history of the character, how he doesn't ignore the New 52 incarnation of the character, but uses the contradictions and the current status quo to spotlight Diana's strength as a champion of truth. I love the change from the New 52 costume to the more armored version of Diana's traditional garb, and Liam Sharp's Diana is both beautiful and fierce, a force to be reckoned with, and if the big fight scene at the end of the issue between Diana and constructs in the design of Greek mythological creatures is any indication, we're in for a visual feast as Sharp gets more creatures to draw. Rucka builds a mystery at the heart of his new take on the series, questions of Olympus and what Diana has been a part of, and the hinted at brother from the end of Geoff Johns's Justice League. Rucka more than any other writer is facing down the changes made in the New 52 head on in this stellar one-shot.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 3/23

Batman #50
Story: Scott Snyder
Art: Greg Capullo, Danny Miki, and FCO Plascencia & Yanick Paquette and Nathan Fairbairn

While next issue will be a one off epilogue issue, Batman #50 wraps up most of the threads that Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have been weaving throughout not just the current arc, "Superheavy," but their entire fifty issue run. Bruce Wayne is back as Batman, and he and Jim Gordon team up to stop Mister Bloom and the people he has infected with his seeds. It's a double-sized issue, and deservedly so, because there is a lot going on. Bruce is fighting Bloom while Gordon is heading to the Powers building to shut down the the collider under the building that is generating a "strange star" which will obliterate much of Gotham at least. And if that weren't enough, Duke Thomas has discovered the person responsible for Bloom and is headed to confront him.

The thing that Snyder spends the issue really talking about, when it comes to theme and more than a bit of dialogue, is about Batman as hope and an idea. About how the person behind Bloom wanted to e power the people of Gotham, to allow them to be their own Batman. Bloom continues to spout his usual brand if nihilistic, every man for himself, philosophy. And Jim Gordon, the Batman who should never have been, gets the big speech as he saves the day. He gets in the speech about how the world needs heroes, not super heroes. How Batman is there because he, "fights our nightmares to teach us to fight the real terrors by light of day." It's a big, climactic scene, and while Batman's return inspires the hope that people need to remove their seeds and weaken Bloom, it's great to see Jim, who has always been a hero, get the final win on this one. The epilogue to the issue has Gordon, recovering from grave wounds, thinking about the first time he saw Gotham, and talking to Batman about it, and so it brings the series full circle; issue one had narration about what Gotham was to the people of the city, and it ends the same way.

For his big finale, Capullo pulls out all the stops, drawing legions of Bloom's freaks and different generations of Bat armor. The final big fight, between a giant Bloom and a giant Bat-Mech is a sight to behold, Capullo also debuted a new Batman costume, a slight variation on the classic theme, that is a nice final touch, a little something to remember him by.

With the announcement of the changes in creative teams coming with Rebirth, Batman #50 is a perfect coda to everything that Scott Snyder has had to say about Batman. It talks about hope and people, and while there's plenty to mill over about the nature of heroism and superheroism, there's still a ton of things going boom. This issue finds the right balance between destruction and thought, like the best blockbusters. I'm looking forward to what Snyder has planned for All-Star Batman, but he's got a tough act to follow after this.

Birthright #15
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas

Like all of Joshua Williamson's series, Birthright has a strong mix of character, action, and big surprises that makes it a rewarding read, and this issue, the end of the series' third arc, is a perfect example of this. Two confrontations of very different kind take place in this issue. While Wendy, mother of our leads, and winger-warrior Ryo are trapped in a cage by Mastema, one of the mages barbarian Mikey is hunting, Mikey and Brennan are surrounded by a SWAT team and Agent Kylen, secretly another of the mages. The two scenarios play to all Williamson and Bressan's strengths. The scene with Wendy and Ryo discusses the nature of prophecy, exactly what Mikey's journey was like in the fantasy world of Terrenos, and Wendy coming to terms with what her son now is. A spread over two pages shows Mikey growing up, and it's very cool to see the intermediate steps between the young boy we see in his origin flashbacks and the looming barbarian he is now. And Wendy's journey to truly believing that all this is real has finally reached the place where she's ready to embrace Mikey as her son, which makes me hope for a reunion soon.. Mikey's fight with the SWAT team is short and brutal, and it's in the reactions and expressions of his brother, Brennan, and his father, Aaron, manipulated by Kylen into leading him to Mikey, that really carries the scenes impact. That and the smugly satisfied look on Kylen's face. But that expression leaves when Sameal, the final sorcerer appears, and instead of fighting with Kylen's men, quickly dispatches them. The "spirit smoke" he uses moves across the pages, undulating and terrifying, as the ninja-like Sameal picks off the SWAT team one by one (and boy howdy, if these pages don't say Bressan should do Batman at some point in the future, I don't know what would). I will also admit I did not see the big last page reveal of Sameal's identity coming, and when I saw it, I realized how much sense it makes, and how much it's going to change things for Aaron especially. There's a two month break before arc four begins, so that's plenty of time for everyone out there to get the first two trades, and volume three when it hits, and be caught up when Birthright returns, so what are you waiting for?

The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage: Second Lives #4
Story: Jen Van Meter
Art: Roberto De La Torre, Al Barrionuevo, & David Baron

The second mini-series starring Valiant's supernatural heroes Drs. Shan and Hwen Mirage ends with an exciting ghost battle and some amazing visuals. The showdown with the ghost of evil sorcerer Denis De Walt is on the horizon, and so Hwen, himself a ghost, enters into the magic scroll known as the Vita Secunda to learn what it will take to stop De Walt. The pages with Hwen inside the scroll are stunning, some of Roberto De La Torre's most impressive, reflecting a strange world at first beautiful and then corrupted by the abuse of the primal magic. It's trippy in that classic Ditko Dr. Strange way, and aided by David Baron's colors. The thing that really sets this comic above and beyond and that drives not only the story engine but the readers interest is the wonderful relationship between the living Shan and the ghostly Hwen, and so as the two set their plan in motion to stop De Walt, the palpable sense of dread that Hwen might have to sacrifice himself to win makes the book all the more tense. The final battle is won more through cleverness than brute strength, something Shan excels at, and it's nice to get a comic with a happy ending. That final battle is again really benefited by Baron's colors, both in the way that he makes the ghosts look, each one of the important ones a slightly different color to help easily remind the reader who's who and who's dead. Also, as Hwen and De Walt cast spells at each other, their word balloons stop having words but instead symbols and colors, which I think is a fascinating representation of magic, being more feelings than actual words, and I wonder if that was handled by the artists or the letterer; one way or the other, I hope it's used again when we get another Doctor Mirage tale. The final pages, as Shan starts up the old TV show she and Hwen had before he died with actor Alex standing in for Hwen has a couple teases;  Hwen's expanding powers and the ramifications of Alex's brief possession by De Walt, setting up a third mini-series in the not too distant future. Each Valiant title has a very different feel, and I like that the supernatural adventure and romance of Death-Defying Doctor Mirage makes it a fairly unique series on the racks, and one that I enjoy each time a new issue comes out.

Secret Six #12
Story: Gail Simone
Art: Dale Eaglesham, Tom Derenick, & Jason Wright

I'm putting this review last so you can stop if you're shy about spoilers and don't want to know about the end of this issue. So HERE THERE BE SPOILERS...

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Writing about the new issue is Secret Six is tricky. Not because it is at any point lacking in the usual brand of off kilter friendship as any other issue, or lacks in brutal action. But because at the end of the issue, a reunion between two characters happens, and it made me, a grown man, squeal with joy. There are certain characters in comics that you just love. And for me, among those characters are Ralph and Sue Dibny. I wrote in the review above about how I love the relationship between Shan and Hwen Mirage. That goes triple for Ralph and Sue. They are characters that belong together. Ralph might be a pliable and hilarious detective on his own, and Sue might be a whip-smart globe trotting socialite, but through their fifty plus years in comics, they have been the best couple; they make each other better, like the best couple do in real life. They have inside jokes and tolerate each other's foibles (although most of those foibles are Ralph's). So the end of this issue, when Ralph comes home and finds Sue back, her memory restored, and they embrace? God, my heart grew three sizes. Gail Simone, congratulations on making me smile so hard my face hurt.

Aside from that, the issue also spotlights the thing that makes Secret Six such an interesting comic: no matter the version of it, these characters are a family more than a team. They're all broken in some way, and in many ways completely insane, but they care for each other. Facing down Lady Shiva, a character who has been used sparingly since Flashpoint, it would have been easy to make the issue a wall-to-wall fight, but Strix, who Shiva is seeking, won't let that happen. Because these people are her friends and family, and she won't let them enter a battle that she knows will get them killed. And so we get a sad farewell between the conscious members of the Six and Batgirl for Strix, and then she's off with Shiva. And while Ralph gets his happy reunion, the others think about what to do next. The growth these characters have gone through in twelve issues, from the disparate band of loonies into this family us never clearer. It's great how these characters, who mostly exist just on the verge of doing something monstrous, can also tug at the heart strings. I'm going to miss Secret Six when it bows out soon, but until then, I'm going to enjoy this crazy ride for as long as I can.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 3/9

The Baker Street Peculiars #1
Story: Roger Langridge
Art: Andy Hirsch & Fred Stresing

I love Sherlock Holmes. I love the work of Roger Langridge. So a comic by Roger Langridge working in the world of Sherlock Holmes is guaranteed to catch my interest. But being that this is a Roger Langridge project, it's not going to be a straight adaptation. The issue introduces us to three children, street smart Rajani, sweet Molly, and upper crust Humphrey (along with his dog/valet Wellington), who start the issue chasing after what seems to be a lion statue come to life. Artist Andy Hirsh has a style well in line with Langridge's own, and his page layouts and especially a page where the kids are chased by a police officer feel like a natural fit. The kids' personalities  compliment each other nicely, creating a cast that is charming an likable, but distinct. Rajani is a street kid, while Humphrey is going to the boarding school St. Baskerville's (another Holmes nod, obviously), with Molly as the middle ground between them. Their meeting with "Holmes" officially makes the kids part of Holmes's network of informants and agents, usually called irregulars. The big twist at the end, though, is that Holmes is not in fact Holmes, but is Mrs. Hudson, Holmes's redoubtable landlady. It's clear from her reaction when Molly says that her grandfather says all Molly can be is a housekeeper and never a detective, that Mrs. Hudson understands what it's like to have people react to her like that; Langridge's comics, as fun as they are, never exist on just that one level of fun. There's always more to them. And so the kids are now helping "Holmes" investigate the statues that have been going missing all over London. And while Mrs. Hudson does not believe in any magic that may have animated the statues, we readers know different, and the title of the series, "The Case of the Cockney Golem" gives readers who know their myths another hint of what's going on. It's great to have a new Roger Langridge series with it's usual mix of charm, wit, and warmth, and the extra flavor ofSherlock Holmes is going to make The Baker Street Peculiars something really special.

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4
Story: James Tynion IV
Art: Freddie Williams II & Jeremy Colwell

The inter-company crossover is a tricky beast. You have all these moving parts, and all these characters, and it can be easy to just make it this big slugfest. But after three high octane action issues, the fourth issue of Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles takes a step back. Aside from some sparring between Batman and Leonardo, and some off panel fighting, this is a character issue. While the Turtles and Splinter are trapped on Batman's world, with the mutagen that created them due to wear off any time now and leave them as normal animals, and three of the brothers are just living and enjoying their time: Leo is sparring with Batman, Donatello is looking at Batman's tech, and Michelangelo is infuriating Alfred by riding his skateboard in the house. But the interaction with the infuriated Raphael is the centerpiece of the issue. Raph is furious about how little is being done, and views Batman as a poseur, and lets him know. It's not exactly an uncommon argument in fandom, about Batman just being a rich guy whop beats on crooks. But when Bruce picks up Raph in the Batmobile and takes him to Crime Alley and explains to him the whys and wherefores of what he does, well James Tynion has a really good understanding of who Batman is. Meanwhile, Shredder and his new ally, Ra's al Ghul, have been able to open a portal to the Turtles home, connecting to a signal from that world, and who pops out but one of the Turtles main allies, Casey Jones. The battle between Jones and the League of Assassins is entirely off panel, which is a shame, but I have a feeling we'll be seeing Casey fight all sorts of monster and mutants as the series reaches its climax. It was also nice to see Tynion revisit Dr. Mahreen Zaheer, the Arkham doctor he wrote about in his "Endgame" back-ups, something you don't need to know to appreciate the scenes with the Foot Clan Ninjas in Arkham, it's a nice nod for those of use who are big Batman readers. If you're a fan of either of these franchises in comic or animated form, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a must read.

The Haunted Mansion #1
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Jorge Coelho & Jean-Francois Bealieu

After writing about Joshua Williamson's decidedly non-all ages Nailbiter on Friday, it's interesting to visit his work that, while still tinged with horror, is decidedly more family friendly. The most recent "Disney Kingdoms" mini-series from Marvel is inspired by my favorite Disney ride, Haunted Mansion. Danny is a kid who recently lost his grandfather, a world traveler and adventurer. Before his grandfather left on his last adventure, he promised Danny that the two of them would investigate the local haunted house when he got back. But now, Danny has lost his grandfather, and his parents are both not taking it well either. But one night, not long after his grandfather's death, a spirit from inside the house reaches out and calls Danny to come to the house to help save his grandfather's spirit. And so Danny sets out for the mansion, and when he gets there, the house is filled to brimming with all sorts of spirits, most of them seemingly malevolent. And so, after talking to the spirit of the fortune teller Madame Leota, Danny knows that he must find a way to stop the ghost of the evil Captain to save his grandfather and the other good spirits in the house. The first issue already has a few images cribbed right from the ride, and I'd be disappointed if all the more of them don't pop up over the rest of the series. Artist Jorge Coelho draws the ghosts and goblins really well, making them perfectly creepy and right in tone with the writing. But he also draws the more benevolent spirits in a way that is otherworldly but not frightening. Williamson's writing walks that perfect line for all ages horror. I think we don't give younger readers enough credit; they're more resilient than grown-ups think they are a lot of the time. If you're a grown-up who likes to share a spooky story with the little ones in your life, I think The Haunted Mansion is going to be a great choice for you.

Spider-Man 2099 #8
Story: Peter David
Art: Will Sliney & Rachelle Rosenberg

Peter David is a writer who plays a long game. After a two parter involving Inhumans and terrigensis (the second part of which was excellent, and due to a problem with shipping to me local shop I only got this week as well), we return to Spider-Man 2099 Miguel O'Hara's tragic love life. And not tragic in the, "Oh, no Mary Jane can't know I'm Spider-Man way," but in the, "My fiancee's mother faked her death and I just found out," way. Yes, thanks to keeping Tempest, Miguel's fiancee, in the hospital, Miguel's employee, Jasmine, wounded in the previous issue, sees Tempest, and Miguel storms the hospital looking for answers. And at the hospital, he finds the room Tespest is in being guarded by Man Mountain Marko, a C-List Spidey villain (not to be confused with Cain Marko, the considerably harder to fight Juggernaut). I really liked the fight scene between Miguel, both in and out of costume, and Marko. Will Sliney's fight choreography is excellent. You need a good handle on layout when you're dealing with an acrobatic hero, and Sliney has that in spades. I also think the panel where Miguel loses his temper with his assistant Raul when he finds out Tempest might still be alive is phenomenal, his look of rage chilling; he also lets his fangs slip, so I'm wondering what that's going to mean for future issues (see, like I said, David plays the long game). The way David writes Miguel at this point rings very true to me. Many super-heroes, when faced with a tragedy or a mystery close to them, do this cold, rational approach. Not Miguel. He goes in guns blazing and filled to the brim with anger. And while, with a little help from a friend, he succeeds, it looks like things are only going to get worse. I also have to admit that when Man Mountain Marko showed up, I kinda laughed him off, but David makes him a threat through his actions; this guy has no qualms about threatening the most innocent people, and so I hope he comes back soon so Miguel gets a chance to lay him out. Peter David has been weaving a lot of threads throughout the first eight issues of this volume of Spider-Man 2099 (not to mention the ones left over from the previous volume), and I think those threads are finally tightening into something that is going to only get more exciting.


Dan Grote takes on the book he was born to talk about, Joe Kelly's SpiderMan/Deadpool...

Spider-Man/Deadpool #3

Story by Joe Kelly

Art by Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, & Jason Keith

I’ve avoided writing about this book up to now largely because, quite frankly, I needed to take a break from writing about Deadpool.

Spidey and Deadpool are an odd pairing. On one hand, teaming up Marvel’s two biggest jokers sounds like a naturally funny book. On the other hand, it forces one of them – specifically Spidey – into the role of straight man. In any other Marvel Team-Up, old Double-P would be the one getting asked to stuff a sock in it.

Spider-Man/Deadpool plays off current continuity, in which Peter Parker is the CEO of a major tech company and Wade is a universally beloved superhero, Avenger and head of his own band of misanthropic mercenaries. He’s also been hired to off Parker by an as-yet-unseen enemy, and he sees cozying up to Parker’s errand boy, Spidey, as the best way to get close enough to him to do the deed. Spidey can’t stand Deadpool, but he sees that Deadpool actually has an understanding of what it means to be a good guy and is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

In the meantime, they partner up with each other’s supporting casts and punch baddies from Spidey’s rogues gallery. In this issue, they tackle the obscure nihilistic duo Styx and Stone, who are terrorizing a Bolivian drug-farming village Wade and the Mercs for Money were hired to protect.

Once Spidey realizes he’s protecting a drug farm, he climbs up on his high horse, but Deadpool – who earlier in the issue rode an actual horse, which he later forgets about – ends up providing the situation’s moral nuance:

“We’re not here helping Scarface or Pablo Escobar. Look at these people – it’s cook drugs or get shot for half of them. Then it’s get shot or farm drugs for the other half. We don’t all get to be white guys in America. What they’re doing is for their own survival.” Also, “The check cleared.”

Having successfully checked Spidey’s privilege, DP continues to surprise the wall-crawler by introducing him to his daughter, Ellie, thoroughly melting whatever was left of Spidey’s anti-Deadpool heart.

“Just when you think you know a guy you hate,” he says as he webs off.

Don’t get too misty, though. While they were in Bolivia, Wade had one of his mercs, Foolkiller, scan Spidey for weaknesses, looking for a way to take him down so he can take out his boss, Parker, because Wade believes they are two different people (Hobie Brown, the former Prowler, dresses up as Spidey early in the issue so Spidey and Parker can be in the same room at the same time).

This book does a great job showing how Ed McGuinness’ art has evolved over the years. McGuinness’ original, short-lived run on DP showed off a blocky, cartoonish style that ultimately got him gigs drawing the Hulk and Superman. Here, his edges are rounder and his heroes trimmer. Merc-for-Money Slapstick may be the tiniest heroes he’s ever drawn (unless he drew the Atom at some point while at DC).

While this book reunites the creative team from the original Deadpool ongoing, it’s no nostalgia trip. Kelly and McGuinness are telling a brand-new story, and so old DP mainstays like Blind Al, Weasel, and Deuce the Devil Dog are nowhere to be found. That said, after 15 years away, Kelly may have a firmer grasp now on what makes Deadpool tick than he did when he originally wrote the character. Spider-Man/Deadpool is an excellent companion to Wade’s solo series, and if you’ve got the dollars to commit to a second Deadpool title each month, this should be the one.

Recommended Reading for 3/11: Nailbiter

I've rarely written a recommended reading for a series that I review on a regular basis; there are so many comics to write about, I want to get to them all. But there a handful of comics going right now that I enjoy so much that I want to give them a little extra boost, and with Image Comics publishing plan that usually allows a couple of months in between arcs when trades and hardcovers come out, it makes for a good time to touch on one of their series. So today, I'm going to be talking about what is my favorite horror comic on the market right now: Nailbiter.

Joshua Williamson has been a busy guy in the past three years. He's been working in comics longer than that, but on 2013 he got onto my radar for writing the excellent supernatural heist comic, Ghosted, and he's been pretty much everywhere since then (this is quite possibly an example of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, that thing where once you notice or learn something you see it everywhere, but give me this one). Not only is he writing two other creator owned series for Image, today's subject, Nailbiter, and Birthright, but he's done ongoing work with Dark Horse, short runs on books for Marvel and DC, and recently became the writer of one of Marvel's All New All Different series, Illuminati. So that's a long way of saying he's a busy guy. And I've read a lot of that output, and I have to say, there's no slip in quality.

But it's Nailbiter, along with artist Mike Henderson, that is my favorite thing Williamson is working on. Nailbiter is the story of the town of Buckaroo, Oregon. Buckaroo would be like pretty much any other small town in the Pacific Northwest, except for one little quirk: Buckaroo has spawned sixteen of the most prolific and disturbing serial killer in the record history of serial killers; it seems like the odds of Buckaroo natives who leave becoming serial killers is extremely high. And the most recent of these, and by far the most prolific, is Edward Charles Warren, the Nailbiter, who took forty-six people who bit their nails, and chewed their fingers to the bone before killing them. But by some miracle (maybe a diabolical one) despite being arrested in his murder den, Warren was acquitted of all charges and returned to Buckaroo.

The inciting incident of the series is the disappearance of FBI agent Eliot Carroll, the agent who had hunted down Warren and was obsessed with finding out why the two spawned the Buckaroo Butchers. He called his old friend Nicholas Finch, an NSA agent, to tell him he had discovered the secret and needed him to come to Buckaroo. But by the time Finch arrived, Carroll had disappeared. Finch's investigation partnered with local sheriff Sharon Crane, formed the spine of the early issues of Nailbiter. Through Finch, we get an outsider's view of Buckaroo. Some in the town revel in the history, setting up murder stores, while many just want this whole serial killer thing to go away.

There are two things that really make Nailbiter pop for me: one is the strength of the characters, and the other is how well it plays with the mystery of Buckaroo and the horror tropes spawned it. I'm going to talk about the second point first. Williamson knows his horror. He knows how to ratchet up the tension and give the reader just enough information to keep us coming back, There's never an issue where nothing happens, and even the issues that seem to be one-offs pay off in the larger scheme of the series.

The mystery of Buckaroo is a deep and complicated one, and every time a layer is peeled away, it turns out there's another beneath it. Oh there's an ancient temple buried below the city? That's got to be the source of the evil, some ancient mystical curse. Oh, that's a fake, and there's a history of people with mental illness being brought to Buckaroo by a doctor? That's got to be it! But is it? We still don't know. You'd think that twenty issues of mystery would get frustrating, but it's paced so perfectly and we get enough answers and big reveals that it never feels like the creators are jerking us around.

It's also a strong statement in the book's favor that it feels like it knows not only where it's going, but where it's been. It would be easy to throw together a concept about a town that spawns serial killers and say, "Well, the first was the Book Burner, then there was... a clown guy (yeah, clowns are scary)... a woman... a few others... and then The Nailbiter" But even though we don't know much about most of the Butchers, every time they come up it feels like the creators know all the details about them, about the town, and about what helped build it into the little slice of nightmare that it is.

And its about much more than the mystery. There are big scares along the way. The different killers and the people of Buckaroo are damn scary. Reverend Fairgold, the local preacher, is the kind of guy who believes the ends justify the means, and has a deep hatred for all the Butchers. There is the mysterious Butcher of Buckaroo, a killer who serves The Master, the man seemingly behind all the horrors of Buckaroo (or at least protecting its secrets), a monster of a man who wears leather and a mask with bull horns who seems to appear and disappear at will, knowing the secrets of the city. And we watch various people, good people, being driven slowly insane and violent by being in the proximity of the city.

My greatest weakness as a critic and scholar of comics is that I feel my vocabulary when it comes to art is fairly limited; that's why so many of my reviews focus on story and only make a general comment on art. But for Nailbiter, I really want to stress how important the art is. Mike Henderson, Joshua Willamson's partner on this book, is an incredible artist. His character designs are excellent, he draws people that look like people, all very distinct in both their facial features and their body types. his designs for the Buckaroo Butchers, some of whom could be comical if drawn by an artist with less of a sense of what makes horror, are uniformly terrifying.

Bet beyond his excellent designs, the thing about Henderson's art that really impresses me is his ability to pace out a scene for the most authentic scares. The pages where Finch and Crane investigate the tunnels below Buckaroo (because what self-respecting town of horror doesn't have tunnels?) are a testament to building atmosphere and making a place as much a character, and as important, as any person. But there's a specific scene in issue nine that sticks out as the best jump shock I can remember in a comic ever. Sheriff Crane gets home to find Reverend Fairgold waiting in her house, and after telling him to get lost, she walks into her room to lay down, and as she does her hand falls off the bed, and the next page is a splash of... Oh, you think I'm going to give that away? Let's just say you mix in urban legends with horror comics and you get an amazing page.

Character is a major part of horror. If you don't care about the people who are in danger, then you might get a shock or some revulsion from something gross, but the creeping horror of tension comes partially from being concerned with the people in the situation. And the characters in Nailbiter are all interesting and well rounded.

It would be easy to just assume that Edward Charles Warren was just a monster who is waiting for another chance to kill. But there's so much more to him. He does have this sinister, wicked sense of humor, and doesn't seem to be afraid of Finch, even when he's being threatened with extreme violence. But there's something more to Warren. One thing, he seems to have a code of ethics about his kills. When children take up a Buckaroo tradition and go to poke around at his house on Halloween,they bump into Warren, and when one gets left behind Warren actually takes care of him, bandages his hurts, and tells the boy he doesn't hurt children. More than that, we've never seen him hurt anyone who wasn't a threat in his or her own right. Warren cares about people, having tried at different times to help Buckaroo natives who left the city make it in the outside world. He's definitely not sane, but the mystery of exactly how mad he is and what is going on in his head is as important as the mystery of Buckaroo.

Finch is also a study in contrasts. When Carroll calls him, Finch is actually on forced suspension, waiting for a trial for killing a suspect in custody. Finch is not just an agent, but an interrogator, and while he might deny it at times, he seems to enjoy his work, and has no problem using, to quote A Clockwork Orange, a little bit of the old ultra-violence to get a result. With a temper and a penchant for beating on suspects, it would be easy to think Finch is as bad as any of the Butchers, but he has the tenacity of a dog with a bone when it comes to solving the mystery about his missing friend Carroll, and about what happened to Carroll after he's found. That dedication, both to his friends and his goals, is an admirable trait, but even the most admirable trait can be pushed too far, and as we see with Finch, he's always walking right on that line.

Sheriff Crane is the closest thing the book has to a legitimate hero. She really wants to do her best by the people of Buckaroo. But she's stymied at every corner by the fact that everyone knows that she was high school sweethearts with Warren. The relationship between those two characters is my favorite in the entire comic. It's not exactly will they/won't they, because she knows he's a serial killer, but at the same tie she cuts him more slack than another sheriff would... until she doesn't. Crane is no pushover, and that's another part of her charm. She isn't Marge Gunderson, the smart but sweet sheriff in Fargo. No, Crane is as tough as nails. And her adversarial relationship wit the previously mentioned Rev. Fairgold is another treat. And it's not that she's defined by her relationship with these male characters. Fairgold is defined by his relationship to her.

And while those are the three principle characters in Nailbiter, the cast is larger than that. Carroll and Fairgold are important, as clearly are the Bucther and the Master. FBI Agent Abigail Barker was another tough as nails officer of the law, bit one who ran afoul of the Master, and her arc, as she does her best to fight what he did to her, and the homicidal urges that comes from that, is a heart breaking arc. And then there's Alice. Alice is Buckaroo's local punk/goth girl, fascinated by the Butchers, and most people's suspect for who will be the next Butcher. And Alice is looking at this history because she's afraid they're right. I think Alice is my favorite character in the comic, because she's just so real to me, the ultimate teenage outsider. And when we learn about her family history? Bam, what a reveal!

I know I've talked more about theme than plot here, but so much of Nailbiter's plot is tied up in its serialized mystery narrative I don't want to give too much away. But the uber-plot is never sacrificed for a good story, as there are some really memorable one off issues of the series. Issues six and seven completely sold me on this book; the first five issue arc was great, but when a book can shift gears from a big horror procedural search for a missing FBI agent plot to a one off about Crane and Alice trying to help a girl who wants her baby to be born in Buckaroo so he can be a serial killer, and an issue where Brian Michael Bendis comes to town, and make them all as intense and interesting, well you know it's something special. Issue sixteen, the earlier mentioned Halloween issue, mixes a touch of Stand By Me into the comic for an issue unlike any other in the series. And the last arc, which took Finch and Warren out of Buckaroo, made for a different kind of story, much more of a whodunnit, and really did start giving readers answers. Just not all of them.

I love horror comics, both of the suspense and the supernatural variety. While we still don't know if there's any supernatural aspect to this comic, when it comes to pure suspense, you can't beat Nailbiter. If you like a horror comic with a brain that still doesn't shy away from some gore and a good shock, you couldn't do any better than Nailbiter.

There are three volumes of Nailbiter available right now, which are, in chronological order: There Will Be Blood (Issues 1-5), Bloody Hands (Issues 6-10), and Blood in the Water (Issues 11-15). Volume four, Blood Lust, comes out in April. Nailbiter Volume 1: The Murder Edition HC, collecting the first ten issues of the series in an oversized hardcover, comes out this Wednesday, March 16th.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 2/3

Nailbiter #19
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson & Adam Guzowski

So, for every answer we get in Nailbiter, two more questions get asked. "Devil Went Down to Georgia" wraps up with the answer to who is the Devil Killer, and we finally pay off Agent Barker's continued homicidal fantasies. The payoff on the identity of the Devil Killer is perfect, and made so much sense when I saw it I don't know how I hadn't put two and two together on it before; I want to reread the arc and see if there were clues laid out that I completely missed the first time. But that answer opens up a bigger question involving The Master (who I've called The Doctor in the past) and The Butcher, the serial killers who seemingly protect or control Buckaroo's secrets. Whatever they're doing, we now know that while it is tied to  Buckaroo, it is not exclusively linked to that locale, which adds a whole new level of creepy, knowing they can turn people wherever they want, or so it seems. So many questions! But beyond the plot, there's the usual excellent character work this book does. Alice finally wakes up from her coma, with Sheriff Crane waiting by her bedside, and the fact that Alice is about to learn about the truth of who her parents are can only mean big things for her next arc. Finch continues to be the rock the book rests on, the most stable (which is saying something since he has crazy rage issues himself)of the lot, but his interview with Edward Charles Warren, the Nailbiter himself, opens up with a question that I never thought to ask: How many of Warren's forty-six victims did he really kill? I've always chalked Warren's odd behavior to him being a serial killer with a code of ethics, but now I'm wondering how much of a serial killer he is. And we get to finally see more of Agent Carroll, who is now back in FBI care, since he had his legs and arms cut off in Buckaroo, presumably by The Butcher. And without spoiling anything, if you thought things couldn't get any worse for him, it can. I want to take a minute and really call out Mike Henderson's art on this issue and this title in general. This book is a synthesis of story and art like all comics, but Williamson and Henderson work together perfectly, Henderson has a sense of pacing that works really well in the horror scenes, like the confrontation between Barker and Carroll at the end of the issue, and he draws precise, intimate fight scenes; they're not your big superhero slugfests, but down-and-dirty, up close and personal fights. And his faces! This issue, there were some really great expressions, specifically a panel of Barker as she gets hit with the news there is no cure for what happens in Buckaroo, Finch as her begins to interview Warren, and pretty much all of Warren during that interview. The raw emotion or sly satisfaction are played out in a way that few other artists can capture. Nailbiter is taking a two month break between issues, one for the new trade and one for a hardcover of the first two arcs. I'm planning a full recommended reading for the book in between now and then to really spread the word, so if you like horror or suspense, really give it a shot. You won't be disappointed.

Princeless- Raven: The Pirate Princess #5
Story: Jeremy Whitley
Art: Rosy Higgins & Ted Brandt

I'm about to speak a blasphemy. As much as I love Princeless, and I love Princeless, I think I'm starting to love the spinoff, Raven: The Pirate Princess, even more. It has everything Princeless has, all the amazing female characters, social commentary, smart plots, only there's even more of it. This issue takes place on Raven's pirate ship as the all female crew of pirates she took on last issue are just getting their sea legs. Before this issue, the women were pretty much just first mate Katie's role-playing friends, but this issue we get to tour the ship with Ximena, Raven's former best friend and current navigator of the ship, and get a brief moment with most of the crew. There are women who are physically fit and looking for challenges that way, there are some who are playing games, some who are just working around the ship. One is deaf, one is lounging around, one is wearing something akin to traditional hijab, and there's a brief discussion about the choice to wear that, and how others might view it as oppression but in many cases, the women who wear them are doing so by their choice, which was something that got Ximena to think, and me too. This really impressed me, since it would be so easy to have a ship full of red shirts, since it's an entire crew, and just focus on Raven, Ximena, Katie, Sunshine, and Jayla, the five characters we met in the first arc. Giving these characters in the crew fuller personality means the reader has more buy in, and I know I don't want to see any of them die or be hurt; I don't think I felt that about any random crewman on the Enterprise. A lot of Raven's part of this issue sees her getting her feet under her as a captain. There's a lot about Raven that I like. Despite being captain, she's willing to make much of what the ship does a democracy, as long as her crew remembers who's in charge during battle; democracy during fights gets people killed. She wants to be the best captain she can be. And when she has to deal with Jayla, resident scientist and doctor of sorts, who is being something of a complete brat, when she stops to think, she gives Jayla a shot, and assures her that people will listen. Jayla is the youngest of the crew, and a lot of her bratiness comes from wanting to be taken seriously. This is the first issue of the series with the whole cast, and we're already getting relationships building, be it Sunshine befriending Jayla after Jayla put together a seasickness cure, or the continually frayed relationship between Raven and Ximena. I'm also impressed by the fact that Rosy Higgins has created a crew of I think sixteen characters all with diverse ethnicity and body type who are also facially distinct. Each issue of Raven: The Pirate Princess builds off the last and gives us more and more characters to love, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when the crew does their first pirating. That has to be coming, after all, because they're pirates, but for now, this issue is a wonderful calm before the storm.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 1/6

The Fade Out #12
Story: Ed Brubaker
Art: Sean Phillips & Elizabeth Breitweiser

People throw around the term "noir" to describe gritty crime stories a lot, and while all noirs are gritty crime stories, not all gritty crime stories are noirs. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips get that, and their stories are noirs: nobody gets a happy ending, nobody gets to ride off into the sunset, and their heroes have feet of the softest clay. And the final issue of their Golden Age of Hollywood mystery, The Fade Out, leaves us with a protagonist who is no one's definition of a hero. After everything Charlie Parrish has seen, the deaths of people he cares about, the perversions, the horror of the Red Scare... Charlie does nothing other than continue on. As readers we get answers to the questions that have been asked in the series, who and hows on the mystery, but there's no justice to be found for any of the victims. And in many cases that would be frustrating; if you're used to superhero comics, or many more traditional mysteries, the bad guy gets it in the end. But here, Charlie goes to the movie premiere of the film he was working on back in issue one, whose first star was murdered, whose real screen writer, Charlie's friend Gil who he was fronting for, is also dead, and its as if it were any other day to everyone else there. We see where everyone winds up, with Maya, the poor girl who stepped into the dead Valeria Sommers's role, engaged to Tyler Graves in one of the Hollywood marriages of convenience that were such a part of the studio system. And Phil Brodsky, the studio fixer, just watches, knowing the truth and knowing there's nothing anyone else can do about it. It's a haunting ending to a series that scratches off the veneer of Hollywood and shows nothing pleasant beneath it. Brodsky's final lines to Charlie sums up what we learn about Hollywood and the world at large, "But that is how it works, Charlie. Girls die for nothin' and old men cry about it... And the business just keeps on going... Christmas still comes every goddam year, right on schedule..." Don't come looking to The Fade Out for a bedtime story about how things were better back in the day. No, this is a story about people who are lost, about corruption, about the dark. And that's what noir is; the dark, especially the dark in human hearts. Charlie hasn't learned any lessons. He started the series coming out of a drunken black out, and he ends it drinking himself towards another. The Fade Out is a perfect twelve issue series that will read perfectly in one long sitting as a great noir, so if you haven't read it, now's the time to dig in. Just don't expect to walk away as unchanged as 1940's Hollywood.

Hero Cats of Stellar City #9
Story: Kyle Puttkammer
Art: Marcus Williams, Ryan Sellers, & Omaka Schultz

When it comes to charm and originality, few all ages comics right now can touch Hero Cats of Stellar City. And the end of the current arc, The Crow King Saga, has all of the in spades. Trapped in a dream created by an extra-dimensional being called the Crow King, the Hero Cats are all in human form, with only the guidance of Bandit, the brother of Hero cat Cassiopeia, who was trapped in the Crow King's realm in his own form. What this, and the previous issue, have allowed the creators to do is use all the work they've done to build these characters over the first two arcs, and still have completely new designs and a completely new setting. It's a medieval setting, with Cassie as an intrepid explorer, Ace, the Hero Cats leader, as captain of the Queen's fleet, Rocco, the world's strongest cat, as a barbarian champion, and Belle, the beautiful telepathic cat, as the queen. But these new forms allow for character work, as Rocket, who is afraid of humans, has this bleed through into this world, where he is an inventor who is a bit eccentric and nervous because he is not comfortable in this form. The story is a classic resolution to a fantasy quest story, with the Hero Cats and their allies storming the Crow King's castle, and it's there that artist Marcus Williams really takes the ball and runs with it. There are a couple of truly impressive double page spreads, one of the Hero Cats fighting the Crow Kings armored Crow soldiers, and another of Midnight, the final Hero Cat, in conflict with the Crow King himself. But it's all the detailed design work that went into building the Crow King's world that really impressed me, all the locales and the characters. The end of the issue teases a new group of Hero Cats, led by Bandit, who are still in the Crow King's land, and I'm hoping, with this arc wrapped and the tie-in mini-series for Midnight wrapping as well, we might get to go back and see this new band of heroes in their own adventure.

Nailbiter #19
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson & Adam Guzowski

Wow, if you come from Buckaroo, you can't get a break. Even when you're trying to escape the stigma of being from the town that spawns serial killers, the stigma finds you. And with the revelation that the Devil Killer stalking Atlanta is killing people who have escaped Buckaroo, well, there's something else for these poor folks to fear. The issue, in the middle of an arc, does a lot to push the story forward. We see Agent Burke continuing to unravel, continue to have the visions of murder that were caused/triggered/something by her time in Buckaroo. Finch continues to distrust Edward Charles Warren, the Buckaroo Butcher known as the Nailbiter, because, well, he is a serial killer. Sheriff Crane has a conversation with Reverend Fairgold where it looks like they put most of their cards on the table. And we find the Devil Killer's next victim and his identity. Or do we? This is Nailbiter after all, and what is on the surface is rarely what is really happening. But mixed in with all the plot are some really great character moments for Warren. There's a fantasy sequence as he tells Finch about what happened after the last time they were together, about his death and his journey through Hell to reclaim his life, which is splendidly drawn by Mike Henderson and is a different window into Warren's psyche; for all his violent tendencies, Warren has always been rooted in reality, so something interesting is going on here. And the revelation that Warren, during his walkabout after leaving Buckaroo, when he was killing, was also helping people who left Buckaroo because he was in pain and wanted to help others so they wouldn't hurt like he did continues to show that Warren, while a monster in many many respects, has a strange conscience of his own, or if not a conscience at least a sense of empathy lacking in most serial murderers. That's one of the key strengths of Nailbiter for me; I know its lead is a nightmare in many ways, but I can't keep myself from liking him.

Totally Awesome Hulk #2
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Frank Cho & Sonia Oback

My shop got shorted the first issue of Totally Awesome Hulk, so by the time I tracked one down it felt a little late to review it. Fortunately, the second issue is just as much fun as the first and as worth a review. One of the things that comics do better than pretty much any medium is allow for a fusion of two creators. When a writer knows his artist's strength, he can write a story that plays to those strengths. And Greg Pak, a writer who I've written about many times before and knows what he's doing, knows what Frank Cho draws well: dinosaurs and buxom women. So the new Hulk, boy genius Amadeus Cho, runs up against Lady Hellbender, the Monster Queen of Seknarf Nine, a warrior queen riding a T-Rex like dinosaur monster. And before the issue's over, we get some other Kirby-type monsters, along with the king of all Kirby monsters, which all just seem made for Cho to draw. But the issue isn't wall-to-wall combat. There's clever banter between Amadeus and his sister, Maddy, who serves as his mission control and travels along with him in a flying food truck and stays close with a flying droid. We also get to see Amadeus interact with a couple other heroes, classic Hulk character She-Hulk and newcomer to the main Marvel Universe, Spider-Man Miles Morales. And Pak continues to play out the two mysteries at the core of the book: what happened to Bruce Banner and what exactly is going on with Amadeus. As confident as Amadeus is in how he can control the Hulk inside, there are clearly moments where the Hulk is the one in charge. Greg Pak introduced Amadeus ten years ago, and if you've been following his development through World War Hulk, Incredible Hercules, and Incredible Hulks, you know Amadeus is a pretty dumb smart guy, lacking a lot of forethought, so I'm wondering if his decision to become a Hulk isn't biting off more than he can chew. We'll see next issue, when he fights a big monster who may or may not be wearing little purple pants of his own (that's a hint if you've ever read Nextwave, folks, and if you haven't, well what are you waiting for?).

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 10/7

Atomic Robo and the Ring of Fire #2
Story: Brian Clevinger
Art: Scott Wegener & Anthony Clark

Atomic Robo is back! Again! After the first issue of the current volume of Atomic Robo, where a few of the action scientists of Tesladyne were able to retrieve the head of Atomic Robo from a warehouse currently controlled by the international super-science secret police, Ultra, we get a return of everyone's favorite super genius robot. Well, his head in a box anyway. The first few volumes of Atomic Robo had our heroes with nearly unlimited resources, but now, on the run from Ultra, they have to make due. I've missed Robo himself all these months, and it was wonderful to see that, as much as I missed him, those who work with him miss him more. I can only imagine what a great boss Robo must be to inspire so much loyalty in his employees, and how much joy in  his return. But there's much more for the team to do, and so they set off for the Disputed Zone, a stretch of the South China Sea that has dubious political ownership, where sales the Vasilia, a ship with the international super science black market (God, I love writing sentences like that), which comes from the remnants of Department Zero, the Soviet Tesladyne-analogue, which just screams for a story of its own. While the team is working on getting together everything they'll need to restore Robo, Ultra continues to prepare for the Biomega threat, which I'm sure will have nothing to do with the plot going on involving Robo, nothing at all... And back with the Tesladyne crew, well, things go well and they're able to put together a temporary body for Robo, only to be raided by Project Zero's security guards, led by... Phil, one of their old coworkers! I love that we're slowly getting the band back together, and I love the genre awareness that Robo has, when he's told that Jenkins, his right hand man of butt-kicking's body wasn't found, and Robo is completely sure he's not dead. This scene also has a great Hackers reference, which every comic should have more of. Oh, and a Biomega attack. Biomega are naturally big scary kaiju things, which are designed incredibly by artist Scott Wegener; they feel right at home in the tradition of kaiju without looking like Godzilla knock offs.  So, two issues into the new volume, we've got more of Tesladyne together, Robo back (well, he doesn't have one, but he is anyway), and giant monsters. Yup, it's Atomic Robo, and it's wonderful.

Nailbiter #16
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson & Adam Guzowski

After declaring Nailbiter my favorite horror comic on the racks a couple weeks back, how could I not review this excellent one off issue this week? It's Halloween in Backaroo, and you'd think that a town filled with so many day to day horrors wouldn't celebrate Halloween, but I looks like they do it in spades. But being Backaroo, there are certain very specific traditions, as we follow a group of kids who plan to knock on the door of the current local boogeyman, Edward Charles Warren, the Nailbiter. There's a lot of typical and classic kids out on Halloween in a spooky story/urban legend, with the one kid who's kind of reticent and his friends who keep egging him on and teasing him. And when they arrive and knock on Warren's door, they find it... unlocked. And when they go in to investigate, well, they find more than they bargained for, but less than what they might have feared. Warren is such a complicated character. I know he's a monster, a killer of multiple people in the coldest of blood, but it's very hard not to like him. He has his principles, he's a monster with a very particular code, and his kindness to the kid left behind, like telling him how he did he same thing when younger at the home of another the Buckaroo Butcher, the Bookburner, is the kind of thing that makes you hope there's something in Backaroo making people monsters and there's a cure. Of course, Nailbiter is an ensemble book, and we spend a few pages off in the hospital with Sheriff Crane at the bedside of her daughter, Alice, recovering from her stabbing and talking with Morty the Mortician, and Agent Finch runs afoul of the FBI, finding out not only that Carroll, his fiend and the instigator of so much of what has happened, has awakened and disappeared under the auspices of FBI Agent Burke, who we know has been infected with some of Buckaroo's madness. Things aren't looking good for Carroll, and Finch's hot temper has once again gotten him into trouble, which is par for the course for him. But this issue is Warren's, further digging into his mindset, and setting him of on a roadtrip. The final pages look like they're setting up a new Butcher, and the title of the next arc, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," has me already haring fiddle music. Nailbiter is a comic perfect for a Halloween issue, and this one did not disappoint.

Paper Girls #1
Story: Brian K. Vaughan
Art: Cliff Chiang & Matt Wilson

Credit where credit is due, Brian K. Vaughan has range. Paper Girls, his third series currently running through Image Comics, is a completely different animal than either his space opera/love story Saga or his revolutionary tale We Stand On Guard. Set in the '80s, Paper Girls starts on Halloween night, as Erin goes out to deliver her paper route, and quickly runs into three toughs who are scared off when three other paper girls, Mac, Tiffany, and KJ show up. Erin is taken in by this sisterhood so they all have cover on this particularly dangerous night, only to encounter weirdoes in robes who steal from them and lead them to a house with a device that looks alien in the basement, and once it goes off, they find themselves in a world with a strange sky. Even stranger, when they confront the berobed men again, they are something less than human underneath and drop a device with a version of a logo familiar to us but foreign to the 80s. This is Vaughan hearkening back to Runaways, his last teenager coming of age story, but adding in psychedelic prophetic dreams with elements of the Challenger disaster, fewer evil parents, and more weird alien languages. The first issue spends much of its time giving us a feeling for Erin and Mac, who interact the most, but still spends time making more Tiffany and KJ more than cardboard characters. As always, Vaughan is working with an impressive artist, in this case Cliff Chiang, who is a favorite of mine from his work on Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Human Target. One of the important things about Chiang in relation to this title is when he draws teenage girls, they look like teenage girls, not shrunken adults. They are also wonderfully expressive. But along with the normal stuff, he also draws a great alien machine and freaky guys under robes. And Erin's bedroom has a movie poster from The Monster Squad up in it (Seriously folks, it's around Halloween, and if you haven't seen that movie, or seen it in a while, do yourself a favor and go out and watch it. It holds up). With a wealth of mysteries, well thought out characters, and excellent art, Paper Girls looks like it will sit nicely with Image's current crop of series.

Rowan's Ruin #1
Story: Mike Carey
Art: Mike Perkins & Andy Troy

Mike Carey's comics work usually has a touch of horror; Lucifer had it's share of monsters, as did The Unwritten, and even his run on X-Men had a giant consciousness eating monster. But Rowan's Ruin is the first time in a while Carey has dived in to pure horror. Opening with a young woman being pursued by some sort of revenant, we flash back to see the woman as Katie, who has just agreed to swap houses with a British girl, Emily, so Emily can see the States and Katie can see England. Arriving at Rowan's Rise, the house she will be living in, Katie gets a bad feeling, but she ignores it, and goes about seeing the local landscape. But things are off, and Katie's bad feelings about the house get worse; it seems to eat electricity, for one, and is old and lonely. Most of this first issue is dedicated to getting to know Katie. Narrated by her blog, we get inside her head, and even see her starting to get involved with a local constable, James Hallam. But there's a pall hanging over Rowan's Rise. Inside Emily's bedroom, locked but suddenly mysteriously opened after a fuse blows, we see the room of someone disturbed; not necessarily insane disturbed but haunted disturbed. Mike Perkins is a great artist, but the scene that really sent gooseflesh up my arms was Emily's room. Festooned in horseshoes hanging from the ceiling, with a circle of salt around her bed, and a booby trap of nails under the window, this is the room of someone who is trying to protect herself from something. More disturbed than ever by this, Kaie confides in Hallam that as a child she had feelings about places, and after years of therapy she got past it, but now those feelings are creeping back. Carey plays with atmosphere, contrasting the beautiful English countryside near Stratford with the dark foreboding of Rowan's Rise. Even without the opening flashforward this would all have the feeling of a classic haunted house tale, but with that it takes on the drumbeat of the inevitable, moving inexorably, horribly towards the monster's coming. Tension is the key to a good scary story, and Rowan's Ruin #1 sets up the tension for the remaining issues perfectly.

Southern Bastards #11
Story: Jason Aaron
Art: Jason Latour

One of the best parts of any of Jason Aaron's books, and especially his crime comics, is the depth and ambiguity of his characters even the blackest of villains has a side that is not so dark, and nearly all his heroes are far from spotless. The new issue of Aaron and Jason Latour's southern crime epic Southern Bastards introduces a new character, and one who I found absolutely fascinating, a character I couldn't take my eyes off of. Boone is a southern man, a woodsman. He is a bow hunter, but not for sport. He kills to eat. He's a self professed holy roller and snakehandler. He is a man of faith, who goes to church, but who kills a man because that man committed an unspeakable crime, and this is what God would want him to do. He might be the first character we've met in this entire series who can't stand football. And he hates Coach Boss, the series' principal antagonist. Listen, I'll be up front if you haven't figured it out yet: I'm about as much the stereotypical Yankee intellectual as you can get. But this issue so deeply dives into Boone's mind that I get a real feeling for the man. In one issue, Aaron has found a way to define a completely different southern man than any other we've seen, a study in contradictions in many ways, but a man who is confident in what he's doing, because he has his faith. Jason Latour's art is stellar as always, crafting the world of Craw County, and this issue really drew my attention to the colors he's using. I wouldn't say the color pallet is muted, but it's unique to the book, really setting it apart from everything else on the racks. The scenes of Boone in the woods, of him facing down some of Boss's men as they encounter each other on boats travelling along the river, and of snakes crawling all over him at his church are indelibly grafted onto my memory. Aaron and Latour are setting up a board with many different pieces in place, and this new one, Boone, strikes me as far more than a pawn. He's a knight, maybe a tarnished one, but an important piece that will be making his move against Coach Boss soon enough, and I can' wait to see what that move is.


And Dan Grote brings two reviews for two of this week's most anticipated launches...

Jughead #1

Story by Chip Zdarsky

Art by Erica Henderson

When I found out Chip Zdarsky (Sex Criminals) and Erica Henderson (Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) were going to be teaming up on the all-new, all-different adventures of Archie’s be-crowned best friend, I pretty much yelled “Shut up and take my money” at my phone.

I was not wrong.

Jughead’s solo sojourn fits perfectly in the retooled Archieverse but also stands perfectly on its own. Whereas the main Archie book by Mark Waid and, until recently, Fiona Staples, is more teen soap, Jughead is quirky teen comedy, hence the creative team, which specializes in quirky characters and generally laugh-out-loud comics. There’ll be no talk of the Lipstick Incident here, but there will be plenty of talk about hamburgers.

With the new series comes a shakeup in Riverdale’s status quo. Longtime Principal Weatherbee is out, clearly not of his own volition, and a younger, leaner, angrier-looking Principal Stanger is in. Stanger is immediately positioned as Jughead’s nemesis when he changes the cafeteria menu, replacing lasagna Mondays with a high-nutrition gruel. As someone whose one true love is food, this will not stand.

This leads into a terrific parody of Game of Thrones, complete with a dragon, an incest reference and football player Moose in the Hodor role. Such dream sequences and other flights of fancy appear to be a regular part of the book, as next issue teases the return of Jughead’s Time Police.

The thing to remember about Jughead is that he appears lazy, but he can be quite resourceful when compelled to action (which we saw in Archie #1 when he set about his own plan to reunite Archie and Betty). The book opens with him spending an entire night killing people in a video game, then, upon arriving at school, mocking Betty for protesting the clear-cutting of trees by Veronica’s developer father. Once Stanger implements the new food policy, Jughead makes his own protest sign, has the home ec teacher show him how to make his own burgers, then bypasses Stanger’s rules by selling burgers for charity in the cafeteria, piggybacking on Betty’s open-space initiative and turning the new principal’s face new shades of red.

Also, he dispenses this nugget of wisdom by which I will now live my life: “Teach a man to fish, and he’ll bring home fish, which are gross. Teach a man to make burgers, and he’ll be the hero Gotham deserves, or something.”

Doctor Strange #1

Story: Jason Aaron

Art: Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend

Stephen Strange has an odd place in Marvel’s pantheon. As the Sorcerer Supreme, he’s arguably one of the most powerful people in the universe. As a member of the Illuminati, he’s helped manipulate events over decades. Heck, in this summer’s Secret Wars, he was literally the right hand of God (till, you know, God killed him).

Yet the one thing he hasn’t been able to do, at least in the past few years, is carry his own book.

But with a movie coming out next year, Marvel can’t afford to let its top mystic ride the bench anymore. And so, in the first week of the All-New, All-Different age of Marvel, we get Doctor Strange by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo.

First of all, how has Chris Bachalo never drawn Doctor Strange before? His dark, psychedelic, heavily inked style is a perfect fit for the doctor. Artwise, this book is all giant-mouthed soul-eaters, tentacle porn, mystical bacteria, and floating teddy bears. Everything is in constant, swirling motion, even Strange’s cloak, which he can ride like a magic carpet or tie around his neck like a hipster scarf. (His tunic also transforms into a sleek denim jacket when he’s on the street).

Storywise, Aaron is creating a Doctor Strange for new readers, much the same as he’s done with Thor in the past couple years. An intro page quickly retells his origin, reprinting classic Steve Ditko art, but that’s all the continuity you need for this book. Baron Mordo, Clea, Dormammu, Wong and the rest of his normal supporting cast are all on the shelf, at least for now. This Strange is too busy making house calls, casting interdimensional bogeymen from children’s nightmares, wrestling soul-sucking leeches on the streets of Brooklyn, hitting on women of all planes of reality, and showing up late for drinks with his fellow Marvel mages.

Aaron’s Strange eschews shadowy meetings with Namor, Black Panther and Reed Richards in favor of pub crawling with Doctor Voodoo, Shaman of Alpha Flight, and the Scarlet Witch, all of whom take pot-shots at Strange as if he were their version of Andre from The League. I quite like this unexpected circle of friends, both for its diversity and the fact that no one is treating Wanda like the delicate continuity wormhole she’s been for the past decade.

The book’s long game appears to involve some sort of interdimensional migration (there should probably be a blanket ban on the word incursion after Hickman’s Avengers run/Secret Wars), with all sorts of be-fanged nasties fleeing other realms ahead of a coming slaughter (“Great. Another one of those,” Wanda says casually). There’s also some talk about keeping the cosmic balance by sacrificing a life for every life saved through magic. As of right now, I plan on sticking around to see how these themes play out.