New Comics

As promised last week, The Professor is continuing to get caught up on his email questions. Thankfully, none of the questions this week ask things like “Tell me everything you know about comics,” as all the writers demonstrate an ability to posit actual answerable questions. This first is from February 24th: What can you tell me about the obscure Licensable Bear #4 comic?  It would appear to be the first Obama appearance in a comic book.  As such, why doesn’t it get more attention? Well, Licensable Bear is one of those too-hip-for-the-room concepts; the whole joke is that he’s cute … Continue reading →

Daredevil #116 — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Penciler: David Aja; Inks: Stefano Gaudiano Like Stan Sakai over in last week’s Usagi Yojimbo, Ed Brubaker, here and in Captain America and the various Criminal projects, just keeps turning out highly competent comics: entertaining, well-constructed stories that make us care about the characters and appreciate what we’ve read. Let’s applaud that this week, and look at the other creators who can do it: The Goon #32 — Writer/Artist: Eric Powell Powell isn’t much of a Renaissance Man — he can’t do everything well — but so what? He can do this one book … Continue reading →

Strange Adventures #1 ( of 8 ) — Writer: Jim Starlin;  Pencils: Manuel Garcia;  Inks: Al Milgrom Starlin offering another in the continuing adventures of his cosmic DC cast: Captain Comet, The Weird, Starman, Bizarro and, of course, the titular Adam Strange.  It’s oddly comforting to see him and Al Milgrom still part of the same creative team after close to 40 years; he’s only listed as writer, but those layouts look awfully Starliny, and Garcia just seems to be a middleman between the two old pros. Entertaining, and worth checking out, depending on your tolerance for this sort of … Continue reading →

Usagi Yojimbo #118 — Writer/Artist: Stan Sakai I usually just stick this on the bottom, in the “stuff I don’t have much to say about” list, because it’s so dependably good, but let’s give Sakai a little love this week: this is a good jump-in issue, even though it’s the middle of a three-part story. Watch how smoothly the new reader is given enough information to know what’s happening, how artfully the panels are composed, how inevitably the action moves forward, and how perfectly Sakai renders the characters and the backgrounds, with exactly the right number of strokes of the … Continue reading →

The  Incredible Hercules #126 — Story: Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak;  Pencils: Rodney Buchemi;  Inks: Greg Adams;  (Second story): Story: Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente;  Art: Takeshi Miyazawa A double-size issue for $3.99 (get ’em before Marvel starts charging that much for a regular-sized issue in a month or two), with the first story an origin of sorts (taking place in 1291 B.C.) and the bonus story a bittersweet tale involving Amadeus Cho, Bruce Banner, and that coyote pup. Buchemi shows some talent drawing Greeks, especially the women (some of his panels are reminiscent of Adam Hughes; he … Continue reading →