For the week of 30 September 2019
Quick Bits:
Absolute Carnage: The Immortal Hulk #1 is an absolute must if you’re reading The Immortal Hulk, even if you’re not following Absolute Carnage. Though it does deal with how Hulk is working with the rest of the gang in the event, here Al Ewing, Felipe Andrade, Chris O’Halloran, and Travis Lanham elaborate on how Bruce’s alters work, including an appearance from a much-missed old friend, and deals with some ongoing plot points like Betty’s change, Ross’ status, and Jones’ recuperation.
| Published by Marvel
Batman #80 starts the turn for the “City of Bane” arc as John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, and Tomeu Morey come aboard for the art duties, and Batman and Catwoman return to Gotham. I really like the stylization here, it fits the overall shift in direction and it’s just nice to see Romita and Janson back together.
| Published by DC Comics
Berserker Unbound #3 is another brilliant issue of this series from Jeff Lemire, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin, and Steve Wands. This one gets to the heart of the existential crisis that the Mongrel King is having in a time that neither he understands or understands him. Though, there are some nice attempts at communication and some great character moments.
| Published by Dark Horse
Birthright #40 is pretty huge as it essentially rounds out the current Mastema arc. Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas, and Pat Brosseau make a pretty dramatic turn here, with some interesting ramifications.
| Published by Image / Skybound
Black Cat #5 delivers a fairly funny conclusion to this heist as Felicia and her crew have to overcome Blastaar. Jed MacKay, Travel Foreman, Brian Reber, and Ferran Delgado are consistently giving us an entertaining and compelling story here with an ongoing narrative broken into discrete, separate pieces that can ultimately be enjoyed on their own.
| Published by Marvel
Black Terror #1 features a rather unique take on the character, and on superheroics in general, from Max Bemis, Matt Gaudio, Brittany Pezzillo, and Taylor Esposito. This explores what happens when the Black Terror hangs up his boots, self-medicates for his problems, and begins to suffer withdrawal from the superhero business. It’s all rather...disturbing, but still entertaining.
| Published by Dynamite
Breaklands #2 starts building up the cast as Kasa falls in with a number of other people to help and rescue her brother. Though there are elements of familiar post-apocalypse narratives here, what Justin Jordan, Tyasseta, Sarah Stern, and Rachel Deering are creating here feels incredibly fresh and different.
| Published by Justin Jordan
Canto #5 is fairly action-packed as Canto and crew bring the fight to the Furies. It’s a different change of pace here, but we still get some intriguing symbolism and advancement of the fable narrative in rather inventive ways. David M. Booher, Drew Zucker, Vittorio Astone, and Deron Bennett are driving us towards the end here and I feel like it’s going to be a big one.
| Published by IDW
Contagion #1 is probably going to get some comparisons to Marvel Zombies and DCeased, running through similar horror territories, but it doesn’t really matter. While the elements may familiar, it’s still an entertaining start to this series from Ed Brisson, Rogê Antônio, Veronica Gandini, and Cory Petit.
| Published by Marvel
Copra #1 begins a second volume of Michael Fiffe’s previously self-published series, dropping us into the middle of action, picking up where the last series left off. While it is at least initially a bit confusing, Fiffe does include plenty of information, including an issue-by-issue breakdown of the previous series, to get people up to speed. It’s basically ‘80s-inspired superheroics.
| Published by Image
Daredevil #12 is more magnificence. Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Nolan Woodard, and Clayton Cowles continue “Through Fear” as Matt has an...unfortunate confrontation with crooked cops beating up a Daredevil stand-in and Fisk has a meeting with the rich “elite”. I really quite like the parallels of both of them falling back on old/new tricks.
| Published by Marvel
Dark Ark: After the Flood #1 begins the very welcome next chapter in this story from Cullen Bunn, Juan Doe, and Dave Sharpe, picking up on what’s been going on after landfall. There’s also some really interesting revelations about Kahlee’s past.
| Published by AfterShock
DCeased #5 is the big penultimate issue, giving us hope as two sanctuaries are established. And then... Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo, and Saida Temofonte give us another chilling story here with some very heartbreaking moments.
| Published by DC Comics
Die #8 keeps the pressure on, Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles continuing to hammer at your emotions as they explore the party even further. This one gives us a bit of a deeper look into our Grief Knight, Matt, and it’s amazing that the bleakness is almost oppressive.
| Published by Image
Doctor Strange #20 is kind of a bizarre end to this series as it transitions over to Doctor Strange, Surgeon Supreme later this year. As he searches out ways to implement his newly recovered dexterity, Strange teams-up with Kanna for what feels like one last adventure with her, against the nefarious Cyb(not equal)rdSmPhp (seriously, those symbols may “look” like Cyberdemon, but that’s not what it means) and his master. Great art from Javier Pina and Brian Reber.
| Published by Marvel
Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #4 is another weird one as the team travels to Destiny Beach and Flex Mentallo runs into his old crew. Gerard Way, Jeremy Lambert, Nick Pitarra, Tamra Bonvillain, and Simon Bowland give us an interesting tale of magical muscle mystery here as they try to bring magic back to the beach.
| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal
Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish #3 gets to the heart of what caused Rayonde to turn in the future and shows what changed between the party. It gets pretty dark as the “darkened wish” plays out. Gorgeous artwork from Tess Fowler and Jay Fotos.
| Published by IDW
Everything #2 keeps building the mystery of this story, layering on even more strange events and deaths that keep you guessing. Christopher Cantwell, INJ Culbard, and Steve Wands are crafting a weird horror story here that’s rather unique. There are elements here that feel like Twin Peaks and Fargo, mixed with Vertigo, Love & Rockets, Stray Bullets, and the works of Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns, but at the same time something wholly its own.
| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books
Fantastic Four #15 introduces us to Unparalleled, the heroes of the planet Spyre, in this second part of “Point of Origin”. Dan Slott, Paco Medina, Bob Quinn, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna give us an interesting take on the Fantastic Four here as invading alien monsters, complete with monster dialogue, and it’s neat to see them from a different perspective.
| Published by Marvel
Forgotten Home #1 is a new digital Comixology Original from Erica Schultz, Marika Cresta, Matt Emmons, and Cardinal Rae. It’s a very nice mix of magic and police procedural, hinging on a vast missing persons case, and family drama.
| Published by Vices Press
Ghost Rider #1 is a spot on return for Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch, picking up on the recent rumblings throughout the Marvel Universe (though exactly how it fits in with Robbie Reyes and Avengers is yet to be seen), and veering off into wildly interesting new directions. Ed Brisson, Aaron Kuder, Jason Keith, and Joe Caramagna deliver a first issue that should have old school (and oldish new school, I mean Ketch is a 30 year old character now) fans delighted. Even as Danny’s life is a bit of a mess right now.
| Published by Marvel
The Green Lantern #12 is the fairly impressive “season finale” to this series from Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, Steve Oliff, and Tom Orzechowski before we get a three-month break with Blackstars and then the start of season 2 next year. Some very big revelations here as we find out what all of the disparate parts of this story have been amounting to. It’s interesting as to how epic all of this feels.
| Published by DC Comics
Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey #1 puts a big goofy grin on my face. Aside from blips here and there and the Grendel vs. The Shadow mini-series featuring the original Grendel, Hunter Rose, it’s been almost two decades since we saw the ongoing adventures set in this universe, even longer a story written and illustrated by Matt Wagner (the last one part of canon, Past Prime, was a novel written by Greg Rucka with spot illustrations by Wagner). Like the recent third chapter to Mage, this is a very welcome return. Matt Wagner, Brennan Wagner, and Dave Lanphear take us in an entirely new direction as Grendel Prime is tasked to find humanity a new home.
| Published by Dark Horse
Immortal Hulk #24 closes out the confrontation with Fortean and looks like it’s setting up the next phase for this series (in a two-fold way, both in the immediate future and in the far-flung end of the universe). Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Marc Deering, Roberto Poggi, Paul Mounts, and Cory Petit continue to work wonders on this series. This issue is horrifying. And perfect.
| Published by Marvel
Joe Golem: Occult Detective - The Conjurors #5 concludes this chapter from Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Peter Bergting, Michelle Madsen, and Clem Robins. There’s some very nice Lovecraftian fun here and an ending that sets to fully cap off the upheaval of this series’ status quo.
| Published by Dark Horse
Justice League #33 escalates the “Justice/Doom War” from Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Bruno Redondo, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano. The various factions of the League are still fighting across time as Perpetua’s lock on power is looking even more certain. The tension throughout this story is incredible.
| Published DC Comics
Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 concludes this trek through DC’s future history, stopping in to check on Booster Gold and OMAC, before getting to the main event with the Legion of Super-Heroes themselves. I really hope that the futures seeded here are followed up on. Gorgeous artwork throughout from Nicola Scott, Jim Cheung, rare interior art from Jeff Dekal, leading to Ryan Sook’s Legion.
| Published by DC Comics
Lois Lane #4 continues to move at a fairly slow pace, but it’s allowing for some great character moments like Jon discussing going off to join the Legion and Vic and Renee trying to piece together continuity that doesn’t exist any more. The art from Mike Perkins and Paul Mounts is still worth picking up this series for alone.
| Published by DC Comics
Mountainhead #2 turns things up a notch as everything just gets stranger and a bit more extreme. That odd, not-quite-right atmosphere is perfectly captured by the artwork from Ryan Lee and Doug Garbark.
| Published by IDW
The Necromancer’s Map #2 concludes the bit with the Void Sickness, with some fairly interesting reveals, and throws in some tragic romance while it’s at it. I really quite like how this is pacing along, weaving through details and side bits, while developing Bethany’s larger quest. Beautiful art from Sam Beck and Ellie Wright.
| Published by Vault
No One Left to Fight #4 is stunning. Fico Ossio is delivering the most beautiful art in his career. I mean, just look at it. It’s freaking gorgeous. It also helps that the story from him, Aubrey Sitterson, and Taylor Esposito continues to be incredibly captivating. As we get more old friends and the set up of an old villain’s return.
| Published by Dark Horse
Promethee 13:13 #2 continues this excellent prequel series from Andy Diggle, Shawn Martinbrough, Dave Stewart, and Simon Bowland. The implementation of the conspiracy aspect of the invasion is wonderful to see as the seeds of what’s to come are brought to bear. Gorgeous artwork from Martinbrough and Stewart.
| Published by Delcourt / Soleil
Red Sonja #9 sees Sonja seek out other allies in her quest to defeat Dragan in the form of some rather nasty sorcerers. Mark Russell, Bob Q, Dearbhla Kelly, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou deliver another entertaining chapter here, full of magic and more deceit, that certainly makes things a little bleaker.
| Published by Dynamite
Ruby Falls #1 is a wonderful debut from Ann Nocenti, Flavia Biondi, Lee Loughridge, and Sal Cipriano. This first issue introduces us to Lana, her rather unique dysfunctional family, and the backdrop of the tiny former mining town of Ruby Falls. There’s a mix of fallible memories and a criminal past for the town wanting to be forgotten that is very compelling.
| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books
Savage Avengers #6 continues Conan’s trek as he and Frank Castle travel across the Savage Land and through ordinary Antarctica, as they try to bring Frank’s family back to America. Gerry Duggan, Kim Jacinto, Tamra Bonvillain, and Travis Lanham deliver a fairly interesting story here, transitional, but still an interesting look at the similarities between Conan and Frank.
| Published by Marvel
Sea of Stars #4 gives us hints of possibly what happened to Kadyn in order to make him the way that he is, while his father fights for his life on another hostile alien planet. I really quite like how Jason Aaron, Dennis Hallum, Stephen Green, Rico Renzi, and Jared K. Fletcher have been progressing this story, building up the characters, and letting explanations out slowly in what feels like a natural progression.
| Published by Image
Seven Days #1 kicks off this event series from Gail Simone, José Luís, Jonas Trinidade, Michelle Madsen, and Saida Temofonte in grand fashion, developing a new threat to the world behind the “event” that kicked off everyone’s powers and transformation. We get a nice team-up of luminaries Noble, Summit, and Accell before everything goes to hell.
| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime
Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #1 is a welcome return of this Halloween anthology series featuring chillers, thrillers, and horrors around the Star Wars Universe. There’s a framing story illustrated by Francesco Francavilla that sets up the theme and reintroduces a character from the first volume, and a central tale illustrated by Megan Levens and Charlie Kirchoff dealing with post Phantom Menace Maul. Both written and letter by Cavan Scott and AndWorld Design respectively. I quite like this format and these stories are highly entertaining.
| Published by IDW
Strange Skies over East Berlin #1 is a riveting beginning from Jeff Loveness, Lisandro Estherren, Patricio Delpeche, and Steve Wands. It starts off behind the Iron Curtain in the heart of Cold War era Germany, with all of the tension and distrust of Russian-controlled East Germany, and it’s ratcheted up higher as a strange light appears as something crashes behind the Wall. The atmosphere is made even more surreal by the almost impressionistic art from Estherren and Delpeche. A great start to this series.
| Published by BOOM! Studios
Young Justice #9 continues the team’s confrontation with their evil Earth-3 counterparts, but also gives us a look at Teen Lantern’s origins. André Lima Araújo’s line art during these sequences is worth it alone, but overall I like how Brian Michael Bendis incorporates this into the overall narrative structure.
| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics
Other Highlights: Batman/TMNT III #6, Bettie Page Halloween Special, Bizarre Adventures #1, Bury the Lede, Champions #10, Charlie’s Angels vs. Bionic Woman #4, The Dark, Dead Eyes #1, Deathstroke #48, Deep Breaths, The Dreaming #14, Future Foundation #3, gen:Lock #2, Harley Quinn #66, House of X #6, Manifest Destiny #34, Marvel Action: Black Panther #3, Nomen Omen #1, Old Man Quill #10, The Punisher #16, Runaways #25, She Said Destroy #5, Space Bandits #4, Spider-Verse #1, Star Pig #3, Star Wars #72, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #37, Superman: Up in the Sky #4, Sword Master #4, Thanos: The Infinity Ending, Transformers/Ghostbusters #5, Vengeance of Vampirella #1
Recommended Collections: Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror - Volume 1, Giant Days - Volume 11, Immortal Hulk - Volume 1, The Last Space Race - Volume 1, Major X, Mind MGMT - Volume 3: Eraser & The Immortals, Morning in America, Pathfinder - Volume 3: City of Secrets, Stronghold - Volume 1: Primacy, Superman - Volume 1: The Unity Saga - Phantom Earth, The Wicked + The Divine - Volume 9
d. emerson eddy has been trapped by a cat. Please send pizza.
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