Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 4/20

Criminal 10th Anniversary Special
Story: Ed Brubaker
Art: Sean Phillips & Elizabeth Breitweiser

The world of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's Criminal is not a world for children, either to read or to live in. It's a world where the good and the innocent alike are likely to wind up dead, and where the innocent are few and far between. For the tenth anniversary of the series debut, this double sized one shot revisits the series two most popular characters, Tracy Lawless, the soldier turned hitman, and his petty crook father, Teeg. Set in 1979, the stories from this era usually focus on Teeg, but this is a Tracy story, narrated by a young Tracy as his father takes him on a road trip. Of course, being Teeg Lawless, this road trip has to do with Teeg hunting for a criminal associate, and he's bringing Tracy along because cops will look less at a father and son together than a man travelling alone. And while there's crime in the story,it's mostly off panel. The story instead is of Tracy left alone as his father hunts his cohort, and Tracy making a friend. This sounds like a simple enough story for a twelve year old, but there's nothing simple about Tracy. His father has forbidden him to make friends, after all, because that could get them remembered. But Tracy meets a friendless girl named Gabby, probably a little too smart for her own good, and they develop a friendship. It's a coming of age story in the style of Stand By Me, as Tracy and Gabby just act like kids, which you get the immediate impression is not something Tracy gets to do much of at all (and if you've read other Criminal stories about the Lawless family, you know it for sure). But in the end Tracy learns the hard lesson that just being good isn't enough to survive in his father's world, and he makes the hard choice to protect his one friend, and any innocence he might have had left is gone. Every time I think Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser can't get any better as an art team, a new series or story comes out, and I'm blown away. The sheer pathos of Tracy as he rejects Gabby is one of the most emotional scenes I've seen in a long while, and the fact that the kids look like kids, not just small adults, a flaw in a lot of comic art, is impressive as all hell.

As with the last Criminal special, this issue has interspersed in it pages from an in-universe comic. And while the previous comic was a Savage Sword of Conan knock off, this one is a combination of horror and the 70s Kung-Fu craze, "Fang, The Kung-Fu Werewolf." Let me just go on the record as sayong that, if the Brubaker/Phillips/Breitweiser team wanted to do a full on Fang comic for an issue or two, I would be all over it. And also as with the previous Criminal special, this issue comes in both a standard comic and magazine sized format, and while either is a fine, the magazine is such a great package, I would highly recommend it for all readers to pick it up that way.

Divinity II #1
Story: Matt Kindt
Art: Trevor Hairsine, Ryan Winn, & David Baron

Valiant's first Divinity was the first series from the new Valiant to star a new character, Abram Adams, the Russian cosmonaut sent out into deep space during the height of the Cold War to return decade later with god-like powers. The sequel picks up a thread left hanging by the last series: what became of the other two cosmonauts that traveled into space with Adams? This opening issue of the new Divinity series follows Valentina Volkov, one of the remaining cosmonauts and a loyal Soviet. Volkov was a street kid who was taken off the street and raised by a doctor, a man who truly believed that the Soviet system was the best. The story moves back and forth between Valentina on Earth before leaving and her and Kazmir, the third cosmonaut, trapped on the Unknown, the strange world that transformed Adams. We see how loyal to the Soviet state Valentina was, not just in the flashbacks but on the Unknown, where Kazmir tells her he loves her and she shrugs it off, possibly the only person she will ever see again, because it is against the program they were in to develop attachments. And when she removes her helmet and is transformed as Adams was, she mercilessly kills Kazmir to power the pod that will return her to Earth because that's what she must do for the State. Valentina isn't evil; it would be easier if she was. What she is is a true believer,and in many ways that is more dangerous. As she returns to Earth and receives the radio and television signals beamed into space that tel the story of the fall of Soviet Russia, she returns home and goes immediately to Vladimir Putin, who clearly is ready to set her loose on the world. The issue is dense with history and symbolism, as "Little Myshka, " Little Mouse, the endearment that Valentina's adoptive father used and the one Putin knows, the mouse they experimented on to make the perfect Soviet, is prepared to head off and once more help the USSR to rise, or so it seems. Trevor Hairsine's art is gorgeous, both in the realistic and gritty world of the Soviet Union and the amazing foreign landscapes of the Unknown. Valiant has done a great job with their self-contained four issue mini-series, making them easily accessible; everything you need to know from the original Divinity is summed up straight away in this issue, so Divinity II would be a great place to try out Valiant if you haven't yet.

Harley's Little Black Book #3
Story: Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti
Art: Joseph Michael Linsnner & Hi-Fi

If the Harley Quinn monthly is a fun comic, Harley's Little Black Book, Harley's bi-monthly team-up book, takes everything that makes the monthly great and amps it up to eleven. It's a broad, kooky comic, and this issue has Harley meeting Zatanna as the magician comes to perform at the club that is in Harley's building to get away from the magical chaos of her superhero life, while Harley has guests, the London based super team she met back in issue one. But things aren't that simple, as a trio of ghosts, trapped on the Coney Island boardwalk, wind up taking up residence in Harley's building to avoid a ghost-demon that is hunting them. Zatanna agrees to help the ghosts stop their tormenter, and we learn that Harley can see ghosts for an as yet unexplained reason. The story continues with Harley and Zatanna travelling into the afterlife to find the ghost-demon who is hunting the spirits, and to find the demon who cursed him to stop the whole thing. It's a clever, fun superhero story, made all the better by Jospeh Michael Linsner's art. A famed "good girl" artoist of the '90s, Linsner is best known for having created Dawn, but his work here is lovely. Not only does he draw a stunning Zatanna and Harley, but his demons and monsters are also great, creepy and slithery or demonic. There's a funny gag with the demon behind the whole thing, a name that comes out to the fore with Ztanna's backwards speaking magic. And as a real plus, Zatanna is back in her traditional costume! A comic with magic, comedy, and bunnies hopping around. What more could you ask for?

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Wild Card #1
Story: Jim Butcher & Mark Powers
Art: Carlos Gomez & Mohan

As the wait for Peace Talks, the new Dresden Files novel, stretches out, it's the short stories and original comics that are keeping me sane. The new mini-series, Wild Card is set deep in the thick of the novels, at the height of wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden's powers and friendships, with most of his staunchest allies at his side: his apprentice, Molly; his brother, Thomas; his friend at the M.E.'s office, Waldo Butters; and his police contact; Sgt. Murphy. The exact timeline seems to place it after the events of the novel White Night and the last comic mini-series, Down Town, and before my favorite Dresden Novel to date, Small Favor. One thing the comics can do that the first person narrated novels can't is show things that Harry doesn't see, as this mini-series begins with two women fleeing some sort of supernatural threat that seemingly removes their souls. This seeming is made more evident when Harry, Murph, and Molly go to the morgue where Butters shows them the perfect corpses left behind with no cause of death, Harry begins his investigation with the first soul sucking monsters he can think of, the succubi and inccubi of the White Court of Vampires, of which his brother Thomas is one. The set-up allows readers not familiar with the books to get a feel for Harry and his friends and family as we see Molly's growing skills as a wizard, Harry and Thomas's brotherly affection (and through that, details of the White Court), and Harry and Murphy's sometimes strained relationship, although they are the best of friends in the end, always, which I hope we get to see as well. There's also a great scene with Harry and Molly talking about power and the right and wrong ways to use it, a central theme of the Dresden Files novels. Artist Carlos Gomez has drawn the last handful of Dresden related comics, and his feel for the characters has grown with each one, and the characters are resembling Jim Butcher's descriptions more and more. I'm also very excited for this story because I've read about the series in an interview and known the identity of the big bad, the threat who de-souled the women at the beginning of the issue and attacked a police office in the middle, and it's a character from myth and story I've been waiting to see appear in the Dresdenverse since the Faeries became a major presence back in book four, Summer Knight. I won't say the name here, but, well, lord what fools these mortals be (a little hint if you know your Shakespeare). The Dresden Files universe is rick with story, myth, and character, and these original comics do a great job of telling smaller stories of the adventures of Harry Dresden.

And Dan Grote reviews the new special about everyone's favorite Luchador rooster...

Chew: Demon Chicken Poyo

Story by John Layman

Art by Rob Guillory

First, he saved an English village from a mad scientist making it rain livestock. Then, he freed a faraway fantasy realm from the tyranny of mutant vegetables and was crowned king. He also did a bunch of awesome stuff in between.

Now, after having his neck snapped, everyone’s favorite cybernetic luchador rooster assassin (and all-around badass motherf$&#@%g bird) has taken his rightful place as a lord of hell.

As John Layman and Rob Guillory wind down their amazing, hysterical Image series, they’ve given us one last one-shot featuring Poyo, the poultry-turned-psycho government agent who steals fans’ hearts a little more with each successive two-page spread of him fighting some equally ridiculous monster animal or vegetable (Pengthulu remains my favorite, but this issue’s two-pager against Galaxseal is another feast for the eyes).

In his latest adventure, Poyo stars in his own Christmas-themed children’s tale, in which he takes down a disgruntled Santa Claus and his Seussical henchman, the Grumpass, after Santa declares war on Christmas and breaks the hearts of the children of Blun, as a narrator details Poyo’s adventures in not-necessarily-always-rhyming couplets.

But this children’s tale is a distraction from the framing sequence, in which a priest attempts to exorcise a little girl possessed by an ancient Sumerian demon and of the ability to vomit pea soup with firehose-like force. Poyo arrives in this sequence as well to mete out justice and generally be awesome.

But as always, Poyo disappears to his next adventure before he can be properly thanked for saving the day via ultraviolence.

And also as always, Rob Guillory’s art is a sick delight, brightly colored but with the gross details of John Kricfalusi animation. No one in Chew is attractive, even the people who theoretically are supposed to be. And how could they be with all the vomit and blood and missing limbs and gross food-based powers?

I’m behind on the trades – the last thing I read was Detective Colby snapping Poyo’s neck in issue #45 – so I think a key plot point from the series may have been spoiled for me, but if you just want to read a story about a robot rooster killing all manner of creature with gleeful abandon, well, really, you don’t have any other options.

15 Reasons You Should Care About … POYO

SPOILER if you haven’t been keeping up with Chew!

If you have been keeping up with the Image series by John Layman and Rob Guillory, then you, like us, are likely in mourning over the apparent death of Poyo, the cyborg luchador rooster strategically employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to kill and cluck things up as is necessary.

Poyo’s side adventures in Chew are the stuff of legend, and in fact at one point take place in a fantasy world. The double-page spreads of Poyo fighting horrific mash-up monsters are one of the best gags in a book filled with them.

So in tribute to the robot-eyed rooster, here’s every badass thing Poyo ever did.

Issue 8: First appearance. Poyo at this point is just a normal luchador rooster caged by cockfighting gangsters on the island of Yamapalu. FDA Agent Tony Chu – on the island investigating a mysterious fruit that tastes like chicken – rescues Poyo along with the island’s chief of police, who in turn steals the bird.

Issue 12: Ex-Chief Kulolo is found near-fatally beaten in an alley, Poyo stolen by a cockfight organizer named Butcher. Says perennial FDA informant D-Bear: “Listen, I seen Poyo fight. That f----- bird is a demon. A demon.” Chu frees Poyo from his cage, and the bird in turn claws and pecks out the eyes of his captors. “Told you, yo. A demon.”

Issue 18: Poyo is unleashed during a mission for the USDA, which pairs cartoonishly busty humans with cybernetically enhanced animals. Poyo stays hidden in a crate until such time as he is needed, at which point he proceeds to do what he does best – peck and claw the faces of the enemy, in this case a North Korean military analog. When a general appears to shoot him to death, Poyo gets up, leaps at him and tears out his heart with his beak. Chu describes Poyo as “Concentrated mayhem. Feathers, rage and hate.” Or, as a narration box puts it, “Poyo is just really, really badass.”

Issue 25: Poyo, the USDA’s “only agent with a 100% mission success rate,” is teamed up with Chu’s then-ex-partner John Colby, who at this point was working for the USDA while Chu had literally been busted down to meter maid.

Secret Agent Poyo one-shot: A flashback shows how the USDA gave Poyo his cybernetic bits. It also tells the story of how Poyo defeated the legions of Hell and Satan himself before being brought back to life because, as Satan puts it, “That is one badass motherf----- bird.” It is in this one-shot that the legend of Poyo starts to become a series of epic adventures against forces even stranger than those confronted by Chu and his human allies, such as the Irradiated Zookeeper’s Revenge, the Viltrumite Interstellar Mustache Wars, Ghenghis Condor and his Mutant Mongol Tyrano-Riders, and Icons Affiliated, which apparently was that time he teamed up with ’90s Image characters such as Spawn, Savage Dragon, Witchblade and Shadowhawk. The one-shot’s main story, however, is about Poyo working with the British government to take down a mad scientist who’s found a way to make it rain livestock. Poyo gets zapped by Dr. Regenbogen’s device, finds himself falling from the sky, meets a cute chicken on the way down who gets zapped by lightning, turns his cybernetic wing into rocket thrusters and sets a course right for Regenbogen’s head, which explodes upon impact. After Poyo gets up, his human British partner declares, “Yeah, f---ers, POYO!!!”

Issue 28: Bites off Chu’s sister’s index finger for getting cutesy with him. Takes out a squad of E.G.G. terrorists, rending arms, eyes, ears and jaws.

Issue 29: The first of the, “Hey, where’s Poyo?” double-page spreads: “Terror in Tokyo: Poyo vs. Mecha-Turducken!”

Issue 33: “Hey, where’s Poyo?” – “Antarctic Annihilation: Poyo vs. Pengthulu!” (Imagine a red-eyed penguin with the head and tentacles of an octopus, and its many, many children)

Issue 36: “Hey, where’s Poyo?” – “Grocery Grotesquery: Poyo vs. Mutant Corn and Superfish!” (Why, yes, it is an ear of corn with rock-hard biceps and a fish that shoots laser beams from its eyes)

Issue 41: “Hey, where’s Poyo?” – “Eve of Extinction: Poyo vs. Unisaurus Rex!” (Possibly my favorite of the double-pagers, a pink T-rex with a yellow-and-pink Mohawk, a unicorn horn and a My Little Pony tail that roars rainbows)

Issue 42: “Hey, where’s Poyo?” – “Maritime Malice: Poyo vs. the Quacken!” (Half-duck, half-squid that dresses like Donald Duck, who fights alongside his three nephews and his gold-hoarding uncle, a woo-woo!)

Warrior Chicken Poyo one-shot: Poyo is transported to a fantasy dimension to help thwart an evil wizard who can turn vegetables into monsters. In this realm, he teams up with many a knockoff of the Fellowship of the Ring and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Poyo defeats the wizard by jamming himself down the wizard’s throat and ripping out his skeleton from the inside. For his heroics, Poyo is made king of the land, but the rooster they see before him is only a lookalike, for the real Poyo is needed “Wherever there is evil. Or injustice. Or just some rotten sonofabitch needin’ his f----- ass beat.”

Issue 43: “Hey, where’s Poyo?” – “Parisian Peril: Poyo vs. Escargoat!” (Half-snail, half-goat. Nuff said)

Issue 44: “Hey, where’s Poyo?” – “Twin terrors: Poyo vs. Oyop!” (A metal plate on Oyop reads, “Property of Opposite World! In dog we trust!!”)

Issue 45: Colby takes Poyo out for drinks after a fight with Chu. Upon being tossed from the bar, Colby looks into Poyo’s eyes … and snaps the bird’s neck for reasons as yet revealed. Live badass, die badass.

Dan Grote’s new novel, Magic Pier, is available however you get your books online. He has been writing for The Matt Signal since 2014. He and Matt have been friends since the days when making it to issue 25 guaranteed you a foil cover.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 7/11

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures #4
Story: Brian Clevinger
Art: Josh Broglia & Various

I admit that I read the core Atomic Robo mini-series on trade, but when this monthly anthology was announced, I jumped right on board. It's been a lot of fun so far, and since I missed reviewing issue 3 in the week I was moving, I had to do this issue. There are two continuing serials in the book. One is a Robo-less tale of the Sparrow infiltrating a Nazi fortress. The other, which tends to be the story I look forward to most in each issue, is Robo training with Bruce Lee. It's interesting to see Robo in a situation where he's trying to learn instead of teach and inform, and Bruce Lee serves as an interesting mentor figure, one who is less of a father figure than Tesla, who treats Robo as a child rather than a pupil. There are three one-off shorts, and one of them really drew my interest. In it, Robo wanders into a comic shop in 1994 and is exposed to comics as they were in the mid-90s (and how they still are to an increasing degree today). Clevinger does a good job on condemning the violence and mass consumerism of the industry in a story that is not preachy, but is a melancholy testament to someone who remembers when the industry was something else. He does a better job in four pages than most commentators can do in dozens of posts.

Batgirl #11
Story: Gail Simone
Art: Adrian Syaf

Batgirl was one of the New 52 titles I was most excited for, and while I have enjoyed it, I felt like it took a little while to find its feet. The current arc, dealing with a new vigilante named Knightfall and her cadres of cronies, though, has been very strong. This isn't the first time that the Bat titles have dealt with the idea of vigilantism and what are the lines you do not cross (the name of the villain is possibly an intentional nod to the Knightfall/Knightquest/Knightsend trilogy that is probably the most famous example in the Bat family), but this time there is an additional aspect, made more clear in this issue: the terrors of Gotham can sometimes change the innocent into the horrors that they are believed to be, and who's truly responsible then? Since the New 52, the idea of Gotham as a presence that affects its citizens has become more clear, and now this title is adding to it. Readers also get a better idea of Detective McKenna, Batgirl's GCPD nemesis, and she and Barbara reach a sort of accord. One other subplot that gets some attention is Barbara's roommate Alysia and her new beau, who just happens to be Barbara's brother James Jr., who just happens to be a serial killer. Alysia clearly doesn't know this yet, and I'm curious to see what James's plan is.

Batman #11
Story: Scott Snyder
Art: Greg Capullo & Rafael Albuquerque


"The Court of Owls" story wraps up this issue, and it ends with a bang, both figuratively and literally. Batman's confrontation with the new Owlman, his possible brother, Lincoln March aka Thomas Wayne Jr., is interesting not just because it is a beautifully constructed fight scene, which it is, but because we get a real insight into exactly what the Court of Owls has spent years doing to Lincoln's mind. The loud, brutal fight scene is nicely set off by the end of the main story, where Dick Grayson comes to Wayne Manor to talk with Bruce. The last time the two met in Batman, Bruce sucker punched Dick, and there's a nice call back to that, but more, this is two men discussing their friendship and the world around them. Bruce admits that it is Dick, his friendship and trust, that keeps him sane, and the story ends with the two of them looking out at the Gotham skyline with a renewed promise to protect their home. It's a great ending to one of my favorite Batman stories of the past few years. The backup story, the final part of "The Fall of the House of Wayne" does an interesting job of mirroring the ending of the main story, this time with Bruce and Alfred talking about the way the Court has effected their lives. Snyder has done a great job of making this story not just a superhero slugfest, but a personal challenge for his heroes, and I am very much looking forward to his next arc on he book, and the return of the Joker.

Chew: Special Agent Poyo
Story: John Layman
Art: Rob Guillory

I think I might have made this observation before, but I'll make it again here: Comic books as an art form seem to have a great ability to take the absurd, play it straight, and somehow come out with something that is not laughable but actually really fun and awesome. Chew is a book that does this really well, and that is never more clear than when the uber-rooster Poyo appears. Poyo is a cybernetic, feral, kung fu, luchadore rooster who is the deadliest fighter in the world. This sounds ridiculous, but writer John Layman makes Poyo actually a great character, and artist Rob Guillory finds a way to make you know what's going on in Poyo's head without him speaking. Granted that is mostly Poyo wanting to kill anything in his path, but still... In this spotlight one-shot, Poyo goes to England to defeat a mad scientist who has developed a device that makes it rain farm animals. It's a chaotic comic of body parts flying and chickens kicking ass. Oh, and Poyo briefly winds up in hell and beats the hell out of the Devil. To quote one of the issue's characters (with judicious censoring, since this is a family blog), "That's Poyo, mother%*#@(!"

The Walking Dead #100
Story: Robert Kirkman
Art: Charlie Adlard

Anniversary issues are a tough thing: you want to create something that rewards long time readers, but also is accessible to new readers who might jump on board for the big issue. The Walking Dead #100 does a good job of doing this. I tend to find it hard to view an issue of Walking Dead on its own; it is a continuous narrative from issue one, so everything builds on everything before. However, this issue really does establish everything you need to know, who the characters are and what they are doing, and introduces a villain who looks to be the biggest threat the survivors have faced since The Governor. We've seen Rick, our lead character, poking a metaphoric bear for the past few issues, and while things have gotten tough, this issue really makes it clear that he's in for a world of hurt. The assumptions Rick has been working under have proven wrong, and someone has paid. I've seen this issue described as the most brutal in the history of a series that never pulls its punches. While I still feel that the issue long torture scenes between Michonne and the Governor still is the most brutal, this issue does send a shiver down my spine. It looks like the next hundred issues are going to be no easier for our heroes.

Wolverine and the X-Men #13
Story: Jason Aaron
Art: Nick Bradshaw

While I have mixed feelings about the core Avengers Vs. X-Men mini-series and event, I have to admit the crossovers in both Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine and the X-Men have been very good. I am, for want of a better pop culture reference, Team Cyclops, but I think Wolverine and the X-Men is probably the best X-Book on the market right now. Jason Aaron does a great job of balancing action, humor, and character moments in each issue. This issue serves as a spotlight for Warbird, the bodyguard of student Kid Gladiator, son of Gladiator and heir to the throne of the intergalactic Shi'ar Empire. It's disturbing to see how alien the Shi'ar mindset is, which is cool, as alien races are often portrayed as just human society with some superficial changes grafted on. Warbird's story is tragic, and the idea that she has been trained to have all compassion crushed out of her, and the result of what we could call abuse and what the Shi'ar would call teaching is something that leaves a mark. This is balanced with a savage battle between Gladiator and the Phoenix Five, which ends with an undisputed victory by one. We walk out of this issue with a better understanding of Warbird, and a clear idea that the Phoenix Five are going to be ever harder to stop than they have seemed so far. Let's see where the series goes, and if the Jean Grey School will be anything but rubble by the end.



Oh, and a couple of random notes here at the end.

I thought most of the announcements made at this year's San Diego Comic Con were fairly run of the mill, well except for the one about NEW SANDMAN BY NEIL GAIMAN!!!!!! Excuse me as I go into a brief coma of sheer rapture...

Ok, ok, I'm back. If you have ever read and enjoyed work by Greg Pak, writer of such comics as Incredible Hulk, Incredible Hercules, Magneto: Testament, and Doctor Strange: Season One, he was the mystery guest on this week's episode of Ask Me Another on NPR. You can listen to the whole episode on the link, and hear him talk about what's great about comics, and get into a trivia contest with artist Dean Haspiel about animals in the Marvel Universe.