#adding the crows was a good idea but not like that jesus chris) I still haven't watched season 2 and not going to probably

[delicatebluebirdruins]

the world if we got more episodes in a show again

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 18 February 2019

Quick Bits:

Aquaman #45 gives us a new creation story with Father Sea and Mother Salt. It’s interesting world-building for what’s going on on this island. Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, and Sunny Gho seem to level up on their art again. This book is gorgeous.

| Published by DC Comics

Avengers #15 continues the vampire civil war, with the Shadow Colonel basically kidnapping Ghost Rider. Jason Aaron is definitely taking this series in weird places, but it remains highly entertaining. Especially with collaborators like David Marquez and Erick Arciniega who deliver some incredible artwork.

| Published by Marvel

Avengers: No Road Home #2 reveals how Nyx and her family took Olympus. There’s also a neat parallel narration for Hawkeye explaining how the guy with just a bow and arrows can take on gods and monsters. The art from Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, and Jesus Aburtov is gorgeous, they really seem to pushing themselves with their storytelling. It’s just a shame that none of the artists are credited on the cover.

| Published by Marvel

Barbarella/Dejah Thoris #2 is ridiculously impressive. Leah Williams, Germán García, Addison Duke, and Crank! are delivering an intelligent, humorous, and compelling adventure tale here that reminds me a lot of some of what Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse did in Tom Strong. It’s incredibly inventive and the artwork is amazing. Highly recommended.

| Published by Dynamite

Batman #65 gives us the penultimate chapter of “The Price”, featuring an all out battle between Flash, Gotham Girl, and Gotham. The artwork from Guillem March and Tomeu Morey is stunning, with some incredible layouts as the action continues.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Widow #2 is fairly bloody and violent as Natasha racks up a body count tracking down the people running “No Restraints Play”, a site that specializes in depravity. Flaviano’s line art seems scratchier than the first issue, but it works for the violent tone of story.

| Published by Marvel

Bloodborne #9 begins the third arc, “A Song of Crows”, as Aleš Kot, Piotr Kowalski, Brad Simpson, Aditya Bidikar, and Jim Campbell spotlight Eileen the Crow. This is a bit of return to the kind of abstract storytelling and embrace of oblique existentialism of the first arc as Eileen investigates the ritual murder of a hunter, but is confounded by time and holes in the narrative.

| Published by Titan

Catwoman #8 is ostensibly the “conclusion” to “Something Smells Fishy”, but it doesn’t actually end the story in any way and leaves the reader at a cliffhanger of continuing elements. That being said, it’s still an entertaining issue from Joëlle Jones, Elena Casagrande, Fernando Blanco, John Kalisz, and Josh Reed. Wonderful action sequences, and more questions as to the nature of a reliquary that seems to contain resurrective powers.

| Published by DC Comics

Delver #1 begins a new Comixology Original series from MK Reed, C. Spike Trotman, Clive Hawken, Maarta Laiho, and Ed Dukeshire. It’s a very intriguing and unique take on the fantasy gaming theme of a dungeon full of treasure and monsters with delvers working to plumb the depths. But it’s from the perspective of the townsfolk whose land the door to the dungeon appears in and how it changes and impacts their lives. 

| Published by Iron Circus Comics

Doctor Strange #11 concludes the battle with Dormammu and the Faltine, for now at least, from Mark Waid, Jesús Saiz, Javier Pina, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Cory Petit. Some very nice art as usual from Saiz, Pina, and Rosenberg.

| Published by Marvel

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3 continues “Mother of Exiles” from Tom Taylor, Juann Cabal, Nolan Woodard, and Travis Lanham as Peter finds out a bit about the rumours regarding his neighbour and Under York, another duplicate New York City under New York City, that oddly isn’t the Monster Metropolis. Great humour from Taylor in the dialogue.

| Published by Marvel

Guardians of the Galaxy #2 takes a somewhat different approach as Peter Quill drunk dials Kitty as he tries to make sense of what’s going on with Thanos, Gamora, everyone who’s dead, and the current state of the Guardians. Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Marte Gracia, and Cory Petit are really taking this series into interesting offbeat territory, while still delivering some excellent humour and an ominous feel to Starfox’s new band of “guardians”.

| Published by Marvel

Incursion #1 begins a new mini picking up on where the Eternal Warrior and Geomancer are since Harbinger Wars 2 and Ninja-K, and pit them against Imperatrix Virago, a cosmic villain that is devouring worlds (kind of like if Galactus were pestilence), from Andy Diggle, Alex Paknadel, Doug Braithwaite, José Villarrubia, Diego Rodriguez, and Marshall Dillon. The art is incredible, the stakes seem pretty high, and the outlook after this first issue look pretty grim for Earth.

| Published by Valiant

James Bond 007 #4 sees Stephen Mooney join Greg Pak, Tríona Farrell, and Ariana Maher for the art chores for three issues, continuing the tale of Bond and “Oddjob”’s team-up. Like Marc Laming, Mooney seems to be born to draw Bond and espionage themed stories.

| Published by Dynamite

Judge Dredd: Toxic #4 concludes what has been an excellent series dealing with xenophobia and hateful rhetoric from Paul Jenkins, Marco Castiello, Vincenzo Acunzo, Jason Millet, Shawn Lee, and Robbie Robbins. I’ve always found non 2000 AD Judge Dredd stories to be a bit of crapshoot, but IDW have been delivering well with the past two mini-series, this and Under Siege.

| Published by IDW

Justice League #18 is the latest excursion into the Legion of Doom territory from James Tynion IV, Pasqual Ferry, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano. It works with some of the revelations from last issue regarding Martian Manhunter and builds a new narrative for Lionel Luthor’s past and his work with Vandal Savage. It’s interesting to see Tynion working with variations on discarded continuities in this way, building a new past that synthesizes pre-Flashpoint ideas with the current batch of backstories.

| Published by DC Comics

Middlewest #4 only seems to be getting better and better as more of this world and how it seems to work get fleshed out by Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos. There’s something incredibly magical and special about this series that taps into the feeling of some of the best coming-of-age fantasies as it blends Ray Bradbury, JM Barrie, and Carlo Collodi into this magical realist adventure.

| Published by Image

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3 concludes the opening arc from Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garrón, David Curiel, and Cory Petit by adding Captain America to Miles & Rhino’s team-up. This has been a very entertaining start to the series, with a nice mix of Miles’ personal life and superheroics.

| Published by Marvel

Naomi #2 reasserts that Jamal Campbell is a powerhouse of an artist and one of the best kept secrets of the past few years who really should have a higher profile. His art is amazing. It also helps that the story he, Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker, and Carlos M. Mangual are telling is as compelling as this, as Naomi confronts Dee as she tries to learn about the day of her adoption. It’s very widescreen and epic as it hints at the broader DC Universe, but at the same time this is very deeply personal.

| Published by DC Comics

Old Man Quill #2 gives the Guardians a taste of the depravity and despair that Earth has fallen to in this post-superhero world. Ethan Sacks shows there’s still a bit of humour left, though, in that Piledriver’s descendent thinks that Piledriver was one of the all-time greats. Also the art from Robert Gill and Andres Mossa gives a wonderful amount of detail to the wastelands.

| Published by Marvel

Relay #4 returns after a delay with new artist Dalibor Talajić (I believe Andy Clarke had to bow out due to illness, but I’m not 100% sure on that). Talajić’s art style is not as bright and clean as Clarke’s, giving a darker, shadowy approach that results in the bleak, horror elements of the story coming further into focus.

| Published by AfterShock

Seven to Eternity #13 returns from its own lengthy delay to conclude the arc in Skod, with the revelation of part of Adam’s choice to save the Mud King. It reiterates the theme since the beginning that there seem to be no good choices in this world, that everything tainted, despite Adam’s father believing the world black and white. While we are going into another trade break, Rick Remender, Jerome Opeña, Matt Hollingsworth, and Rus Wooton consistently make this worth the wait.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Sharkey: The Bounty Hunter #1 is the latest of Mark Millar’s Netflix feeder series, after The Magic Order and Prodigy, with Simone Bianchi and Peter Doherty rounding out the team. This one feels a bit like if Warren Ellis were writing Strontium Dog, and it works. The artwork from Bianchi is worth it on its own. Gorgeous character designs.

| Published by Image

Venom #11 is another holy crap issue from Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, Joshua Cassara, JP Mayer, Frank Martin, and Clayton Cowles. There are some really big revelations about Eddie and his family that really need to be read firsthand. Amazing work.

| Published by Marvel

X-O Manowar #24 reminds us again just how good of an artist and storyteller Tomás Giorello is. The action sequences and battle between Aric and Hesnid is incredible, with fairly inventive layouts that just elevate the overall impact of the pages. Giorello and Diego Rodriguez really make this something joyous to behold.

| Published by Valiant

Other Highlights: American Carnage #4, Bitter Root #4, Black Badge #7, The Black Order #4, Breakneck #3, Coda #9, Death Orb #5, DuckTales #18, East of West #41, Evolution #14, Exorsisters #5, Go Bots #4, Grumble #4, High Level #1, Hot Lunch Special #5, Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter #2, Jim Henson’s Beneath the Dark Crystal #5, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Discovery Adventure, Jughead: The Hunger #12, Lightstep #4, The Lone Ranger #5, Lucifer #5, Lumberjanes #59, Mars Attacks #5, Monstress #20, Outpost Zero #7, Rainbow Brite #4, Shuri #5, Solo: A Star Wars Story #5, Star Wars Adventures #18, Starcraft: Soldiers #2, Stronghold #1, Sukeban Turbo #4, Superb #17, TMNT: Urban Legends #10, Teen Titans #27, Turok #2, The Unstoppable Wasp #5, The Witcher: Of Flesh and Flame #3

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man - Volume 2: Friends & Foes, Bedtime Games, The Beauty - Volume 5, Black Lightning: Brick City Blues, Captain America - Volume 1: Winter in America, Days of Hate - Volume 2, High Crimes, Infinity 8 - Volume 3: The Gospel According to Emma, Old Man Hawkeye - Volume 2: The Whole World Blind, The Punisher - Volume 1: World War Frank, West Coast Avengers - Volume 1: Best Coast

d. emerson eddy would do anything for a Klondike bar, but he won’t do that.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 9 July 2018

Quick Bits:

Aliens: Dust to Dust #2 continues the plight of a group of settlers on LV-871 as they try to flee an attack by xenomorphs. There’s more gorgeous artwork from Gabriel Hardman and Rain Beredo, very impressive storytelling through the action.

| Published by Dark Horse

Amazing Spider-Man #1 isn’t a bad start to the post-Dan Slott era, with Nick Spencer, Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, and Laura Martin setting up a new/old status quo for Peter. At times it does seem like the story veers towards unnecessarily being cruel to set him up, pushing him down further and further, but we’ll see where it goes. The art from Ottley, Rathburn, and Martin is wonderful. The narration in the epilogue (with art from Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, and Edgar Delgado) from the villain in the main story, though, is damn good. The sequence itself is an amazing hook and gives me hope for wonderful things to come.

| Published by Marvel

Betrothed #5 is a brutal end to this series. Sean Lewis and Steve Uy give Tamara and Kieron a bloody coming of age, with a somewhat unexpected conclusion to their confrontation with their rivals. There are some interesting hints at more to come that has me hoping that we’ll see more of this story in the future.

| Published by AfterShock

Black Science #37 serves as kind of the connecting tissue for this arc, ostensibly bringing “our�� Grant and Sara to the central hub with their alternate universe daughter, trying to solve the problem of the destruction of the Eververse. This is an important turning point in the story, as Rick Remender, Matteo Scalera, and Moreno Dinisio push us headlong towards this series’ conclusion. Again, the art from Scalera and Dinisio is just stunning.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Bloodshot Salvation #11 continues to bring this story back around full circle to the beginning, merging the timelines. It’s interesting to see this wholly play out, adding some wrinkles, and giving us some really nice art from Doug Braithwaite and Jordie Bellaire. I’m anxious to see how this ends.

| Published by Valiant

Champions #22 is kind of a second “fresh start” as this issue deals with the fallout from the various events around the Marvel universe and the kids’ solo books. Jim Zub is balancing all of the different moving pieces out of his control very well, making change and transition almost an essential theme to the title, which in itself makes a fair amount of sense with the kids growing up. Although I miss Sean Izaakse, I really love how Kevin Libranda (with colours from Marcio Menyz) presents Snowguard here. The wolf is adorable.

| Published by Marvel

Coda #3 has a really interesting rumination on the nature of good and evil from Si Spurrier as the underlying narration this issue. Raising the oft pondered question of what it means to do the wrong thing for the right reasons and what it means to be “good”.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

The Crow: Memento Mori #4 brings the series to a close. The continuing story from Roberto Recchioni, Werther Dell’Edera, and Giovanna Niro winds up much, much darker than just the religious intolerance presented in the first three issues.

| Published by IDW

Daredevil #605 brings to an end the “Mayor Murdock” story-arc that has featured some wonderful art from Mike Henderson and Matt Milla. Henderson is an incredible artist and his style has so perfectly meshed with Daredevil, the street level heroes, and the terror of the Beast and the Hand brought to New York City.

| Published by Marvel

The Dead Hand #4 throws a big monkey wrench into the works of the hidden Russian city in the form of a rebellious teenager. It’s interesting how Kyle Higgins and Stephen Mooney turn this thriller on a dime into incorporating elements of family drama.

| Published by Image

Die!Die!Die! #1 was a surprise, being announced and then released the same week. It was a pleasant surprise, though, because this first issue is pretty awesome. Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple, Chris Burnham, and Nathan Fairbairn deliver an over-the-top action comic that reminds me a lot of the more humorous output of Garth Ennis.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Domino #4 is another winner, diving deep into Domino’s connection to her current arch-nemesis, with all of the humour and action that this series has shown us so far. Gail Simone, David Baldeón, and Jesus Aburtov have easily made this series a must read.

| Published by Marvel

Elsewhere #8 brings the series to a conclusion, tying up the one major loose plot thread in the process. This has been a fun adventure series from Jay Faerber, Sumeyye Kesgin, and Ron Riley and this issue captures the indomitable spirit exhibited by Amelia Earhart and DB Cooper throughout this story.

| Published by Image

Exiles #5 is gloriously insane as the first arc comes to a close. Saladin Ahmed, Javier Rodríguez, and Álvaro López have been outdoing themselves with each subsequent issue. The art alone is worth your attention, with some very inventive layouts and storytelling techniques, but the characters, dialogue, and plot are equally enthralling.

| Published by Marvel

Farmhand #1 is a new series from Chew’s Rob Guillory. It’s odd, blending family drama with weird science and body horror. It’s incredibly different and the idea of the body farms is very compelling. Also great, and at times horrifying, art from Guillory, with colours from Taylor Wells.

| Published by Image

Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda #3 has some really nice art from RB Silva, Adriano di Benedetto, and Guru-eFX. Silva’s designs for alternate Iron Man armours this issue are particularly impressive.

| Published by Marvel

Isola #4 reveals how the Queen became a cat, maybe, because it’s told in a somewhat hallucinatory fever dream of Rook, possibly remembering what happened or possibly just having a bad dream. I love how Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, and Msassyk are telling this story, as a somewhat ephemeral fable.

| Published by Image

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Tempest #1 begins the end for the League, with Alan Moore, Kevin O’Neill, Ben Dimagmaliw, and Todd Klein displaying all of the inventiveness and depth of storytelling that series has delivered without fail since its inception. The interplay between formats of newspaper comics, epistolary adventure novels, comic books, and more make this as much a delight of form as it is of story.

| Published by Top Shelf & Knockabout

Nancy Drew #2 kind of subverts the mystery with personal drama, only to set up another mystery. It’s an interesting approach, but it’s leading to some very interesting characters. The art from Jenn St.-Onge and Triona Farrell is wonderful.

| Published by Dynamite

New Mutants: Dead Souls #5 is another great issue, with the team trying to find something in Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum. The page layouts from Adam Gorham this issue particularly stand out.

| Published by Marvel

Oblivion Song #5 makes a revelation that we’ve kind of been expecting for a few issues now, but is still interesting to see how it plays out. There are a few major events that definitely change how this series will operate, bringing truth to what Robert Kirkman wrote in the first issue of how this series wouldn’t remain static around a singular status quo. It’s really nice to see that kind of organic change in a story. It also helps that the art from Lorenzo De Felici and Annalisa Leoni is gorgeous.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Old Man Logan #43 is a thing of beauty, featuring Juan Ferreyra’s first Marvel work. His style is perfect for Logan and meshes well with the darker aspects of Ed Brisson’s writing.

| Published by Marvel

Optimus Prime #20 clues us in a bit on what’s been going on with Bumblebee as he and Optimus catch-up...somewhere. John Barber is playing with a lot, trying to keep all of the plates spinning as he weaves together years of Transformers stories here and it’s impressive.

| Published by IDW

Outpost Zero #1 focuses on a group of teens coming of age in a station on what looks like a frozen wasteland of a planet, possibly the last of humanity, since they don’t know if any other generational seed ships made it to any of their destinations either. While this is decidedly sci-fi, Sean McKeever leans in to his writing strengths, delivering some nuanced and developed interpersonal drama that is as compelling as the broader survival plot. I also love the aesthetic and style that Alexandre Tefenkgi and Jean-Francois Beaulieu bring to the art. It reminds me a bit of Takeshi Miyazawa’s work on Mech Cadet Yu and it works really well to blend teen drama and sci-fi.

| Published by Image / Skybound

The Punisher #227 reinforces my belief that Matthew Rosenberg should be writing a Black Widow & friends or SHIELD title. His characterizations and voices for Bucky and Natasha are so spot on, while providing some much needed humorous asides.

| Published by Marvel

Quicksilver: No Surrender #3 is a stunning meditation on Pietro’s relationship and history with his sister. Gorgeous art on the flashbacks from Paul Renaud. I also have to mention again on the main present sequences that Rico Renzi’s use of colour adds so much to the storytelling.

| Published by Marvel

Relay #1 is probably a bit stranger than the Free Comic Book Day zero issue, as Zac Thompson expands the story to the multiple worlds affected and changed by the Relay. It’s an odd mix of philosophy, theology, and police procedural and I’m still not quite sure what to make of it. It has some gorgeous art, though, from Andy Clark, José Villarrubia, and Dan Brown.

| Published by AfterShock

RuinWorld #1 is a fun all-ages fantasy by Derek Laufman, featuring some anthropomorphic animals getting into misadventures. It’s funny how just about every character is different degrees of inept and everything seems to be going wrong. I really like Laufman’s art style.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / kaboom!

She Could Fly #1 is incredibly strange. Starting with the normal, Martín Morazzo and Miroslav Mrva’s art is fabulous. I absolutely love Morazzo’s style, a mix of Frank Quitely and Marcos Martin, and he always makes the books he works on look visually interesting. And it really fits weird and strange stories, like this one. Christopher Cantwell, Morazzo, and Mrva are presenting the mental illness of our main protagonist, Luna, in a matter of fact way, without any visual clues (beyond Clem Robins’ change in font style for an intrusive, abusive inner voice at times) that this isn’t happening. That’s not a problem at all, in itself, but it also seems that this is taking place in an almost magical realist world, where absurd impossible things are possible. Like the fact that she could fly. That unreality of the world itself is what makes this strange, as though we as readers ourselves can’t trust the narrative. Because it might just be something made up in somebody’s head. I like this.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Star Wars: Darth Vader #18 is an interesting single issue story pitting Tarkin against Vader. It’s a bit odd, but Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Daniele Orlandini, and David Curiel turn in a very compelling story of the hunt.

| Published by Marvel

Transformers: Lost Light #20 features the confrontation that we’ve been waiting for for a very long time, Rodimus and Getaway. After all that we’ve seen in this series, it underlines just how insane and depraved Getaway truly is.

| Published by IDW

Transformers: Unicron #1 is a very dark comic. Like with the Free Comic Book Day issue, the Cybertronians have almost completely lost, people are giving in to despair, Unicron has eaten most of the colonies, including planets like ROM’s homeworld that they didn’t even know were colonies, and the outlook for the universe is looking very grim. Still, there’s five more issues, and I want to see how John Barber, Alex Milne, and Sebastian Cheng end this.

| Published by IDW

X-23 #1 is a great beginning for Mariko Tamaki with Laura and Gabby. While it’s more immediately tied to the rest of the X-Men than much of All-New Wolverine, it captures the fun and humour of that title, while also presenting a new and deeply disturbing element that you really need to see. It’s nice to see Juann Cabal and Nolan Woodard continue with the characters. Cabal’s art was great on the “Orphans of X” arc and it looks like he’s pulled out all of the stops here. Some phenomenal panel transitions and visual gags.

| Published by Marvel

Xena: Warrior Princess #6 kicks off a new arc with Erica Schultz taking over as writer. It’s good, with Vicente Cifuentes providing a nice visual consistency, while the story takes on another dimension. Like the first arc, this is still rooted in Xena coming to terms with her past as she learns to work with Gabrielle, but we get an added external narrative here with the element of the oracles.

| Published by Dynamite

X-Men Blue #31 feels like the beginning of Cullen Bunn’s X-Men endgame that really started with his work on Magneto years ago, that everything has been building to this. It’s interesting to see the series from this perspective, with Magneto almost as an outside unstoppable force, and it adds a huge gravity to the story. Great art from Jorge Molina and Matt Milla.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Accell #12, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #21, Archie #32, Astonisher #9, Deadpool: Assassin #3, Dejah Thoris #6, DuckTales #10, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #253, Mech Cadet Yu #10, Monstress #18, Ms. Marvel #32, Port of Earth #7, Red Sonja #18, Resident Alien: An Alien in New York #4, Rick Veitch’s The One #6, Run Wild, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle #10, Star Wars: Thrawn #6, TMNT: Urban Legends #3, Tomb Raider: Inferno #2, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #34, Wasted Space #3, World of Tanks: Citadel #3

Recommended Collections: All-New Wolverine - Volume 6: Old Woman Laura, Despicable Deadpool - Volume 3: The Marvel Universe Kills Deadpool, Go Go Power Rangers - Volume 1, Made Men - Volume 1: Getting the Gang Back Together, Old Man Logan - Volume 7: Scarlet Samurai, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - Volume 3: Remastered, TMNT Universe - Volume 4: Home

d. emerson eddy sometimes likes to make himself believe that planet Earth turns slowly. But he’d definitely rather be asleep.