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eddycurrents · 7 years ago

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For the week of 16 April 2018

Quick Bits:

Amazing Spider-Man #799 sees some surprising revelations and developments, as Spider-Man’s extended network tries to take on the Red Goblin, who has turned his attention to Harry and his family. This issue does a great job of ratcheting up the tension as we dive headlong into the final confrontation in the next issue.

| Published by Marvel

Antar: The Black Knight #1 is the beginning of a retelling of the history and legend of the warrior and poet Antarah ibn Shaddad, brought to us by Nnedi Okorafor and Eric Battle. I know that many probably aren’t familiar with Islamic poetry, let alone pre-Islamic Arabic poetry as part of the Mu’allaqat, so it’s especially nice to see this presented here. The art from Battle, with colours by Jason Scott Jones, is great.

| Published by IDW

Avengers #689 is technically the penultimate issue of “No Surrender”, but this is the extra-sized special spotlighting the Avengers throwing everything they have left at the Challenger and Grandmaster, and showing who has all the cards. This is big, with great art from Pepe Larraz and David Curiel, and a really nice circling back around for narration from Lightning.

| Published by Marvel

Avengers: Back to Basics #4 concludes the second two-part story focusing on a time in the Avengers’ past, as seen through the eyes of Ms. Marvel using a virtual reality device. I really like how this series has been structured, with the framing story with Ms. Marvel and then the view of the historical inset. Also, so far this has featured some of Peter David’s best humour I’ve seen for awhile.

| Published by Marvel

The Ballad of Sang #2 is more balls to the wall action, with Sang being hunted down by a coked-up “rock and roll” biker gang. It’s completely over the top to the point of near absurdity, but Ed Brisson and Alessandro Micelli are still making this high octane fun.

| Published by Oni Press

Black Crown Quarterly #3: Spring 2018 spends a lot of its time building up the neighbourhood, centrally with a tour in “Ghost Walk with Me” from Tini Howard and Phillip Bond, but also in two other comics stories and the continuing “Tales from the Black Crown Pub” feature. It’s interesting how the locations in the respective comics being published are used here to populate this fictional world, like a shared universe that only intersects with its buildings. There’s also an interview with Howard about and a preview for the forthcoming Euthanauts by her and Nick Robles. And a short from David Barnett and Martin Simmonds that looks integral to Punks Not Dead.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Black Hammer: Age of Doom #1 begins the next chapter in Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s epic, essentially turning the premise on its ear as it goes from Lucy searching for her dad and the missing heroes to the “missing” heroes searching for Lucy. Given where Lucy ends up when she claims to have figured everything out, it certainly makes me wonder where and what the farm happens to be.

| Published by Dark Horse

Cable #156 takes a slip into the past/future with an untold adventure set during the time period of the last Cable series when he and Hope were hopping through time, trying to stay one step ahead of Bishop, who was trying to kill them. Aside from establishing more of the father/daughter bond between the two of them, this also looks to be showing us Hope’s first encounter with Cable’s techo-organic nightmare in the form of Metus. I love how Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson are mining Cable’s past to build this story. Also, as with the first issue in the arc, Germán Peralta and Jesus Aburtov’s artwork is stunning.

| Published by Marvel

Critical Role: Vox Machina - Origins #6 brings to a close this mini, hopefully with more to come. I love the regular Critical Role broadcast and it’s nice to see the Vox Machina campaign and characters brought to life, as it were, in a different medium. Matt Mercer, Matthew Colville, Olivia Samson, Chris Kawagiwa, and Chris Northrop did a great job of adapting them to the comics medium and told one hell of a story, with a great feel for the actors’ voices, too.

| Published by Dark Horse

The Damned #9 gets us back to new material, presenting a fairly straightforward heist of the proceeds of a demonic gambling parlour. Naturally it’s not going to turn out to be that simple.

| Published by Oni Press

Daredevil #601 begins the next stage in Charles Soule’s upheaval of Daredevil’s status quo, with Mayor Fisk fighting for his life in the hospital, the Hand waging war on New York City, and Matt Murdock finding himself in a position of power. Mike Henderson and Matt Milla provide some really nice art.

| Published by Marvel

Evolution #6 is ostensibly the end of the series first arc, but there’s not much concluded. There are a few transitions for our focus characters, but it’s mostly more slow going through the outbreak. It’s nice to see outside confirmation that Abe (and by extension everyone else) isn’t insane or, at least, isn’t imagining the bug. And the art from Joe Infurnari, with Jordan Boyd, is gorgeous.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Giants #5 ends the series with the moral lesson of friendship and humility over greed and aggression. It’s been a good series, with some great storytelling by the Valderrama brothers.

| Published by Dark Horse

Her Infernal Descent #1 is an interesting take on Dante’s Inferno, with a grieving mother descending into hell with William Blake as her guide. Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler have this first issue rife with literary and pop culture allusions and cameos, much like Dante utilized characters and people from his time in the original poem, adding an interesting level of Easter egg finding. The art form Kyle Charles and Dee Cunniffe also presents an interesting aspect to the storytelling. I love the choices for the pages with nine-panel grids.

| Published by AfterShock

The Highest House #3 brings the Lord and his family home, allowing for more intrigue among the land, and Moth to become smitten with the Lord’s daughter. The artwork from Peter Gross and Fabien Alquier is simply gorgeous. I’ve been saying this since the first issue, but the way that Gross lays out his pages is spectacular. Each page is a treat to see how he’s incorporated bits and pieces of the House’s architecture, making it feel like an ever-present character, much like how Mike Carey presents Obsidian’s voice to Moth.

| Published by IDW

Infidel #2 sees Aisha try to find a reasonable explanation for seeing the ghosts, finding out from her doctor that her anxiety meds can possibly cause hallucinations. It’s also nice to see Aisha and Leslie try to mend their differences, Pornsak Pichetshote is doing a great job of building these characters.

| Published by Image

Infinity 8 #2 sees Agent Keren’s situation go from weird to worse, as she continues to rebuff the advances of a lovestruck alien, now having to deal also with a homicidal one, all while trying to figure out the mystery of the necropolis and keep the ship from exploding due the attack of other insane Kornaliens. Beautiful artwork again this issue from Dominique Bertail as he really gets to show off some weird and wonderful design amidst the necropolis.

| Published by Lion Forge / The Magnetic Collection

Infinity Countdown #2 is more punching over the Infinity Stones, or at least the Power Stone, with little more beyond that. It’s pretty at least. Aaron Kuder does a great job with the main sequence of the Guardians battling the Chitauri and the Raptors, while Mike Hawthorne and Terry Pallot carve out Adam Warlock’s quest for the Soul Gem, all beautifully coloured by Jordie Bellaire.

| Published by Marvel

Iron Fist #80 brings the tie-in to Damnation to a close, along with the series itself. I’ve really enjoyed Ed Brisson’s take on Danny Rand, first with Mike Perkins and here with Damian Couceiro, so I’m sad to see it end, but it does so on a high note.

| Published by Marvel

James Bond: The Body #4 is another great issue in this series. I like how Aleš Kot has structured the series and each story within it, how it has been focusing on both the theme of the titular body parts, as well as how each part contributes to the whole. It’s a measured, thoughtful approach to James Bond and it adds a nice depth that is often missing in some incarnations. It’s also nice to see more Eoin Marron art. I loved his work in Centipede and he shows here that he’s just as suited to more grounded character work.

| Published by Dynamite

Jughead: The Hunger #5 has Jughead’s problems in Riverdale come to a head when he finds out that difficulties just escalate when you try to run from them. Despite the downcast and brooding feel, there’s still some time for humour in Frank Tieri’s script.

| Published by Archie / Archie’s Madhouse Presents

Kick-Ass #3 is where it seems that it’s going to start going wrong for Patience as she finally comes face to face with some true opposition. I like how Mark Millar is fleshing out this new aspect of his world, making Patience’s family feel important, even as we find out a new dangerous wrinkle. There’s also the continuing idea that there truly are no heroes in this story, just varying levels of criminals.

| Published by Image

Lazarus #27 takes us back to the “Conclave” arc, showing us what happened following Jonah’s leap into the North Sea. It’s interesting to see how torture and nearly dying seems to change a person. The quiet moments really allow Michael Lark’s (with Tyler Boss and colours by Santi Arcas) art to breathe.

| Published by Image

Lucy Dreaming #2 is more glorious madness from Max Bemis and Michael Dialynas. The story is funny as Lucy comes to terms with her parents’ mad science and her own newfound ability to lucid dream in very strange ways and the artwork is beautiful.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Optimus Prime #17 is a bit of a mindfuck. Since the reappearance of Onyx Prime at the beginning of this arc, John Barber has made it feel like there was something ominous and somewhat hinky going on. That feeling was well-deserved and it shines through this issue.

| Published by IDW

Optimus Prime #18 is a retelling of the history of the Primes, with the new perspective revealed in the previous issue. This sort of revisiting of Transformers lore definitely aids in the idea that this incarnation is going to be ending soon.

| Published by IDW

Rough Riders: Ride or Die #3 gets into some interesting territory as Houdini traverses the afterlife in order to figure out the problem with the Buck Rider, Madame Coffey and the potential oncoming zombie apocalypse. Patrick Olliffe’s art has been great throughout all of the Rough Riders books, but I wanted to point out that some of the layouts this issue are particularly impressive.

| Published by AfterShock

Rumble #5 is glorious. John Arcudi, David Rubín, and Dave Stewart take us back in time to Rathraq’s battles with the Esu in order to show us an allegory about the true meaning of friendship and sacrifice to close out this arc. Rubín’s art just consistently seems to be transcendent.

| Published by Image

The Spider King #3 is packed with more incredible artwork from Simone D’Armini and Adrian Bloch. Like Andrew MacLean’s Head Lopper, there’s a visceral quality to the style of the angular characters, crazy hair, and smooshed noses that just lends itself completely to this kind of violent and crazy mash up of science fiction and Viking action.

| Published by IDW

Star Trek: Discovery - Succession #1 continues on in the mirror universe following the end of the first season of the television series. As such, it’s pretty dark, with the usual backstabbing, in-fighting, and plotting, but the new Emperor takes it to a new level of evil and crazy with a plan for the complete genocide of non-human races. Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson also throw some somewhat unexpected familiar faces at us.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars: Poe Dameron #26 jumps ahead in the timeline to The Last Jedi era, with a flashback story filling in the hole of how Poe survived Jakku. I don’t always like it when ancillary media fills in what some consider plot holes, which in many cases are just the story moving on past trivial details, but this one wasn’t necessarily trivial, even if the real life answer was just something like “we really like Oscar Isaac”. Either way, Charles Soule does a good job of bringing an explanation here into an entertaining story and Angel Unzueta’s likeness game is on fire.

| Published by Marvel

Superb #9 serves as a capstone to the second arc, with Abbie giving an analysis of Kayla and Jonah, before the revelation of who she’s talking to in order to set up the next stage. Despite being an end, it actually serves as a pretty decent jumping on point, giving a detailed, if biased, explanation of the characters and what’s going on.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Tales of Suspense #104 is the pretty awesome conclusion to what has been a great story. It’s full of the humour and oddity that Matthew Rosenberg has been bringing to the story since the first issue, plus the added depth that only Bucky seems to understand that this has never been about them.

| Published by Marvel

TMNT Universe #21 has a main feature from Paul Allor, Mark Torres, and Ronda Pattison that continues the plight of the Triceratons, following their attempt to return to Earth in the main book, as they try to come to an accord with the Utroms. Naturally, it’s slow going and doesn’t seem to be working out so well.

| Published by IDW

Transformers: Lost Light #17 drops many hints that all is not what it seems in the Afterspark, with weird shenanigans going on as Rodimus tries to return to the land of the living and Nautica investigates the area. There’s some great humour throughout the issue, and it’s always interesting to see James Roberts delve into the metaphysical and philosophical realms of Transformers lore.

| Published by IDW

Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden #2 goes deeper into Usagi and Ishida’s investigation of the two strangers who appeared murdered in the streets. It’s interesting to see Stan Sakai tackling the religious and political aspects here, within the framing of what’s becoming a traditional Ishida mystery.

| Published by Dark Horse

Weapon H #2 concludes Clay’s battle with the Ur-Wendigo, with a little help from Doctor Strange as a guest star. Greg Pak seems to be approaching this title in an old school Marvel way and it’s a nice change of pace. I’m also really enjoying Cory Smith and Morry Hollowell’s art.

| Published by Marvel

The X-Files: Case Files - Florida Man #1 officially starts IDW’s new approach to the X-Files license after a kind of soft launch last year with JFK Disclosure. Essentially a series of mini-series from various creative teams, this first one brought to us by Delilah S. Dawson, Elena Casagrande, Silvia Califano, and Arianna Florean. It’s a decent set up, with Dawson going heavy into the more humorous aspects of Mulder and Scully, tapping heavy into the feel of the offbeat episodes. It makes for an entertaining story and the art keeps it relatively light.

| Published by IDW

Other Highlights: 30 Days of Night #5, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #18, Assassinistas #4, Black Panther #172, The Crow: Memento Mori #2, Curse Words #13, Death of Love #3, Descender #29, Diablo House #4, Encounter #2, The Further Adventures of Nick Wilson #4, Ghostbusters: Crossing Over #2, GI Joe: A Real American Hero vs. The Six Million Dollar Man #3, Incredible Hulk #715, John Wick #2, Kong on the Planet of the Apes #6, Mage: The Hero Denied #8, Mata Hari #3, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #6, Moonshine #9, Ms. Marvel #29, Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe #4, Punks Not Dead #3, Quantum & Woody! #5, Skyward #1, Star Trek: Boldly Go #18, Star Wars Adventures #9, Star Wars Adventures Annual 2018, Venomized #3, Warframe #4, Wasted Space #1, Weapon X #16, Xena: Warrior Princess #3

Recommended Collections: Black Monday Murders - Volume 2, Dark Ark - Volume 1, Elephantmen 2260 - Volume 6, Luke Cage - Volume 2: Caged, Ninja-K - Volume 1, Phoenix Resurrection, Punisher: Platoon, Royal City - Volume 2: Sonic Youth, Runaways - Volume 1: Find Your Way Home, Spider-Gwen - Volume 5: Gwenom, Underwinter - Volume 2: Field of Feathers

d. emerson eddy thinks that you should just take a bite, just go all in.

#This Week in Comics

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