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 pen to make everything clear and attractive or dramatic, as required (plus, check out that cover): cartoon samurai rabbit or not, this is a very good comic book.
New Avengers #50 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Artists: Billy Tan, Matt Banning and Justin Ponsor
The Actual Avengers try to decide what to do about the Normon Osborne Thunderbolt faux-Avengers, and things don’t go well, because otherwise Dark Reign would be over and we could all go home, so there’s a lot of standing around talking and plotting and revealing character, and eventually some fighting with the Hood and his supervillians, and because it’s a double-sized anniversary issue there are lots of guest artists, including Hitch, Maleev, Horn, McNiven and Epting, and despite myself I find it all kind of fascinating and hard to resist, this month’s essential chapter of What’s Going On In The Marvel Universe.
Ultimate Spider-Man #131 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Penciler: Stuart Immonen; Inker: Wade von Grawbadger
This has proved to be the superhero comic of the ’00s, starting in 2000 to absolutely no anticipation whatsoever (after Spider-Man: Chapter One had crashed and, um, Byrned a few years before, and Busiek’s Untold Tales had faded out before that, “proving” that no one cared about Spider-Man stories set in his high-school days), and providing such a compelling modern high-school-age Peter Parker that an entire alternate universe hung its hat on its storytelling. Fitting, then, that it’s about to end before 2010, to start anew after the apocalyptic events of Ultimatum. Will anyone care about Peter Parker living in a world now definitely not like our own? Will Bendis finally burn out on this title? As of this issue: so far, so good; it’s definitely the only Ultimatum title worth reading right now, and it’s the sharply-drawn characters that carry it forward.
Runaways #7 — Writer: Terry Moore; Penciler: Takeshi Miyazawa
New arc, and new artist, and Miyazawa’s style is actually a decent chaser to Ramos, thank you very much, while Moore continues to be the third writer in a row for these characters who knows, just like Bendis over in Ultimate Spider-Man, exactly what they’re thinking, and how they’d react with each other, and why that would be entertaining to see every month. You cain’t never have too many comics like that….
Fantastic Four #564 — Writer: Mark Millar; Penciler: Bryan Hitch; Inkers: Cam Smith, Andrew Currie and Bryan Hitch
After a little bit of fumbling, and a few tonal shifts, Millar and Hitch may finally be settling into a groove here: this first of a two-parter involving the team’s Christmas vacation with cousins in the British Isles (where it gradually becomes clear that something… Lovecraftian is going on in their seemingly-perfect Scottish hamlet) is confidant and subtle, full of little character touches from Millar and panoramic views of town and forest by Hitch, with just the right touch of growing menace and a last page that ends in the perfect place to bring the reader back for next issue. Not all that much actually happens, and there’s no cosmic whizz-banging or anything, but this is probably their best issue of FF since they began their current run.
Batman: Gotham After Midnight #10 (of 12) — Writer: Steve Niles; Art: Kelley Jones
The story’s still too sprawling, and should have been six issues instead of 12, but even though I’m more a writer guy than an artist one, I could sit and look at Jones’s art on Batman all day, and be perfectly content; there’s just something about his gothic style, and his way with the cape and the ears, that makes him one of the classic Bat-artists.
Stuff I read and liked enough to buy, but don’t have much to say about, so read previous reviews in the archives if you’re interested:
Green Lantern #38 — Writer: Geoff Johns; Penciller: Ivan Reis; Inker: Oclair Albert
The Sword #15 — Writers/Artists: Joshua and Jonathan Luna
Jack of Fables #31 — Writers: Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges; Penciller: Tony Akins; Inker: Jose Marzan Jr.
Captain America #47 — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Artist: Butch Guice
Knights of the Dinner Table #148 — Creators: Jolly Blackburn, Steve Johansson, David Kenzer and Brian Jelke
Phil Mateer
