Best Comic of the Week:
Flash #799 – I find issues like this so bittersweet now, knowing that the next issue will be Jeremy Adams’s last. We’ve got Flash, the Terrifics, Hourman, and a few other people rushing off to help rescue Flash’s newborn son from Granny Goodness, and along the way, Adams squeezes in a father son reunion no one ever thought they’d see, and a cosmic wrestler fighting a kaiju-sized ape. Adams’s work with The Flash has been grounded in family, both Wally’s actually family and his various found ones, and it’s done so much to restore the character to how he was back in Mark Waid’s run, while still keeping him grounded in the current DCU. It’s been really good, and I hate that it’s coming to its close next month. The way he truncates part of this issue makes me think that he wasn’t planning on leaving so soon either. I’m going to be keeping my eye on him, although I am a lot less excited about him writing Green Lantern than I am The Flash.
Quick Takes:
The Avengers #1 – I’ve been enjoying Jed MacKay’s work on Moon Knight, and decided I was curious to see how he’d approach a tentpole book like The Avengers. It seems the team has gone through some things, and now Captain Marvel has been named Chairman and is tasked with building a new team. She sticks to a pretty classic lineup (although I like that she picked Sam Wilson over Steve Rogers to be her Captain America). I always like an oddball choice or two on the lineup, and would have been happy to see a lesser-known character get a slot, but still, I think there’s plenty to work with here. CF Villa’s art is very nice, and we get a really solid story about the team having to fight Terminus, before Carol discovers what looks to be the foundation for the whole run. The Big Seven approach to the team is working, as MacKay is acknowledging some of the disagreements the team members have had with one another, and promising some good future drama.
Black Adam #11 – I hate that there’s only one issue left in this run, especially given how much story Priest crams into this issue. Malik believes that Theo has betrayed him by making out with the girl he loves, not realizing that Jasmine has been possessed by the Akkad. The Akkad spark military conflict in Khandaq, while also attempting to take control of Black Adam. And, using a bit of a Priest trope, Theo narrates this story in a confessional. This book is so good, and I hate that it’s not an ongoing series. I remain hopeful that DC will be announcing a Bolt series, by Priest and Eddy Barrows, to debut in the fall. I really want more of this creative team working with these characters.
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #12 – The Cold War crossover with the other Cap book continues, as Steve, Sam, Misty, and Sharon keep fighting to figure out how to free Ian, and Black Widow pays Bucky a visit. This crossover isn’t doing a whole lot for me, but I did enjoy the art of Alina Erofeeva, who is new to me.
Dawn of DC Primer #1 – Is there anything more DC than this free book that came out this week instead of for Free Comic Book Day? It proudly talks about how the Dawn of DC is a back to basics, positive storytelling ‘initiative’ for this year, focusing on the heroes of the DCU. Then it gives us a short story about Amanda Waller sending Peacemaker and some other operatives to Lazarus Island to steal a mystic artifact while she contracts dozens of villains to kill all the heroes of the DCU. So positive. It’s this almost bipolar approach to tone and intent that makes the last decade of DC so frequently frustrating. It’s interesting that this does nothing to promote Batman and his myriad titles, which does suggest that DC is changing some tactics. As an ad for numerous titles, I would say that it was effective.
Fantastic Four #7 – In legacy numbering, this is the 700th issue of the Fantastic Four, and to celebrate, Ryan North and Iban Coello give us a story centring on Doctor Doom. First, the FF make it to Aunt Petunia’s, and move into the farmhouse that Ben’s ancestor built. There’s talk of staying there until the Baxter Building returns from its trip through time, and things seem peaceful until Doom shows up and messes with the team. The first half of this oversized issue is based on how Doom has arranged for the FF to lose their ability to process language, and it’s very Ryan North. After that, we see Doom try again and again to rescue Valeria from the attack that lost her and Franklin in time, and we watch him confront his own failure, which is not a strength of Doom’s. I love the way North gets to the essence of these characters while putting his own stamp on them. This run is entertaining and thought-provoking, as well as often quite funny. I haven’t seen the FF handled this well in a long time.
Guardians of the Galaxy #2 – More is explained in this issue, as members of the Guardians try to explain the threat of Grootfall to the two large armies that are fighting over the worlds in the Manifold. As with most Guardians-related things since the movies came out, they bungle it and possibly make things worse. I like the visual aesthetic of this series, provided by the brilliant Kev Walker, but don’t know how I feel about Drax looking like a reject from a Conan remake. I also hate the fact that Mantis has basically adopted both the appearance and mannerisms of her MCU appearances; the original Mantis was such a cool character, and I’d love to see her return to that kind of portrayal. Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing are writers who have not yet earned my trust, and while I’m liking this more than their current work with Captain America, I’m not yet convinced that they are able to land these big stories.
Immortal Sergeant #5 – The longer this series runs, the more I find myself fascinated by it. In this issue, Michael and his father end up at South of the Border, the exceptionally racist Mexican-themed amusement park and tourist trap famous for its billboard ads. They debate the defund movement, and we get a better look inside Sarge’s head, and come to realize what his plans are for the suspected child murderer they are following. At the same time, the women in these men’s lives get to know each other better, and a lot is revealed about Michael’s childhood. This series, by Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura, is a deep exploration of our times, as it plays out inside one dysfunctional family. It’s a pretty entertaining and original series.
Little Monsters #13 – Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s latest collaboration ended up being shorter than I expected, but I still enjoyed it. Since the group of child vampires who have been alone for centuries in a crumbling city have discovered that some humans still exist in the world, their small community has been broken apart. Things resolve in this final issue. The concept behind this book was solid, and Nguyen’s art was, as always, fantastic. I hope he and Lemire work together again soon.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #6– I guess I didn’t really need to buy the start of this Carnage Reigns crossover, as this chapter does a good job of recapping it. Miles is trapped under a collapsed building with Scorpion and an innocent victim of Carnage, and spends most of the issue arguing. I liked Cody Ziglar’s first arc with Miles, but now I’m starting to lose interest quickly, but that could just be my deep disdain for symbiotes taking over. I want this event over with.
Mosely #4 – Rob Guillory’s cautionary tale about AI/family relationship series builds towards its finish as Mosely reunites with his daughter and ex-wife. This Boom series is decent, and more prescient by the day, as AI continues to exert itself in our world. Let’s hope it doesn’t get this bad.
Predator #3 – Theta’s badly injured, and some of the people she’s just rescued have different ideas of how the group should proceed. Ed Brisson is adding a lot more human drama to this second arc of Predator, just as the Predators try a new trick in getting rid of Theta. This book is really pretty good.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #34 – T’onga’s crew has been targeted by Inferno Squad, a small Imperial force who are after Valance. This issue has some good action sequences, and ends with a few big losses. It took forever for me to get into this series, but I’m there now, and want to see what happens next, especially with Boba Fett showing up next month.
Superman #4 – For someone who has never been a big Superman fan, it says a lot that I’m currently buying three monthlies featuring the character. Joshua Williamson is building on the strange new relationship between Clark and Lex Luther, as Lex shares stories about some of his earliest exploits in Metropolis, and how he made enemies of Dr. Pharm and Graft, who are currently targeting Superman by making changes to his older villains. The story and character dynamics are working for me, and I love that Nick Dragotta came in to draw the flashback scenes. He’s such an exciting artist, and his pages look great. Jamal Campbell’s stuff also looks really good, and I Iike his take on Silver Banshee, a character I can only imagine being drawn by John Byrne.
Titans #1 – In a way, Tom Taylor has been writing this book for a few months now, in his Nightwing title, but it still feels good to see the classic Titans lineup, more or less, back together in their own book. Taylor has the team filling in the role recently vacated by the Justice League as the planet’s premier super-team, and you can see that the expectations of that are going to weigh on them. This book looks incredible, thanks to Nicola Scott. Her characters are very realistic and expressive, and the book just glows. I do worry that Scott won’t be able to keep up with the schedule, but I intend to enjoy everything she gives us. I think it’s odd that DC is setting up Peacemaker as a viable threat and the face of Task Force X at the same time they are releasing Black Label comedy series about him, but I’m sure they have a reason. I don’t know if Amanda Waller’s takeover of an alternate Earth still exists in continuity, because DC is hella confusing, but I do like the idea of her and Dick facing off at some point. I have a lot of hope for this book, and it’s off to a very strong start.
The Vigil #1 – The third of three new team books to launch this week, The Vigil is going to probably get the least attention, but that’s a mistake, as it’s a very capable launch. The team is a group of four Indian superhumans who have a very specific job. They are assigned a new government handler at the start of the issue, but it’s clear that she is not in charge, and doesn’t even know what her role will be with the team. Ram V does a very good job introducing these characters and this situation in a way that’s new and different. I’m instantly curious to know more about these characters, and to see how V and his collaborators portray the DCU from a South Asian perspective. The artist on this book, Lalit Kumar Sharma, does a very good job of making the book look unique while still fitting with the established DC house style. This is part of the We Are Legends initiative, and I’m curious to see if it will have any life beyond just six issues. I know these characters have already popped up in Detective Comics, which is what got me to preorder this book (which I didn’t do for the other two We Are Legends titles).
X-Force #40 – We’re jumping through time again, this time with an aged and senile Quentin Quire, to hunt down another version of the Beast. It all feels like it’s been done before, but it’s interesting how it affects Colossus. This book was starting to click with me, but this issue didn’t do much.
X-Men #22 – As we approach another Hellfire Gala, we’ve got Forge wanting to make big moves to use his technology to better the world, at a time when Scott and Jean are not really getting along. Orchis is making big moves, albeit of the much more typical supervillain variety than we’ve previously seen from them. I like this book, but wish the lineup wouldn’t change so quickly. It also makes me think that there must be a Hellfire Gala every couple of months, story-time, because there’s no way a year has passed in this book since the last one.
Free Comic Book Day Offerings:
I Am Stan – It would seem that Tom Scioli has a graphic biography of Stan Lee coming out this fall, and so Ten Speed Press put together this sample chapter for FCBD. It chronicles the early days of Marvel’s success, when Stan ‘wrote’ just about every comic the company was producing, after having a brief conversation with the artist, and they drew all the pages. We see some of the office politics, as Stan had to work to get around Martin Goodman, and how he ended up having his first falling out with Steve Ditko. It’s pretty interesting stuff, and it feels like Sciolo is trying really hard to be impartial. I’m sure a lot of lifelong Marvel fans are going to enjoy this book when it comes out.
TCAF Purchses:
Cabbagetown #4 – Jason Kieffer stands out as a very TCAF cartoonist to me, as he’s always at the show, always offering his oddball books about life in Toronto. This 2020 issue of his Cabbagetown anthology is pretty representative of his work. There’s a multi-chapter story about a guy who goes around his neighbourhood taking down posters from lamposts. There’s an adaptation of an old Lakota story about when Iktome taught a village of women what a man is, and there’s a long summary of evidence that the Twin Towers were destroyed by an energy weapon. It’s all kind of odd, but I enjoy his work.
The Week in Music:
Mammal Hands – Gift From the Trees – The new Mammal Hands is a lovely exploration of sound. It’s kind of jazzy, post rock, instrumental electronic music (if that makes sense). I find this stuff hard to describe; to me, the fact that it’s on Gondwana Records tells me everything I need to know, but it that doesn’t mean anything to you, let me suggest that if you’re looking for something relaxing and cerebral, this would be a good album for you.
L’Orange & Solemn Brigham – Marlowe 3 – I love when L’Orange and Solemn Brigham get together, because they really amplify one another’s strengths. L’Orange’s sample-heavy beats rely on snippets of old movies or radio plays to build texture, before he hits us with some fantastic beats. Solemn Brigham has a rapid fire delivery to his raps that is thrilling, and he sounds so good over these beats. He has an approach to hooks that I love. This album came out a while ago, but it’s taken this long for the physicals to catch up, so I feel like I’m experiencing it for the first time again.
GoGo Penguin – Everything Is Going To Be OK – I was lucky enough to see GoGo Penguin play many of the songs on this album live the other week, and as always, it’s helped give me a more emotional connection to this music. GoGo Penguin’s music is always beautiful – they construct sonic landscapes with drums, a piano, and an upright bass, and with this album, and a new drummer, they lean into their strengths. As a listener, I find I often don’t pay attention to bass lines, but with this band, it often becomes the central part of a piece of music for me. Their live show was fantastic, capturing the optimism they infused this album with. It’s very nice stuff.