Beasts of Burden #2 (of 4) — Writer: Evan Dorkin; Art: Jill Thompson
As I said in reviewing the first issue of this, you’d think that a comic about dogs (and a cat) solving supernatural crimes in a leafy little suburb would be too cute for words — but you’d be wrong. This second issue offers a perfect little Halloween tale, haunting and affecting. Dorkin gives each animal a distinct personality, and he’s a rare writer who trusts his readers; he gives us all he information we need, and lets us put the pieces together. As for the art, it’s just stunning, from the little throwaway panels on the first page (each a story in themselves), to all the expressive reaction shots, through the artfully staged action (and subtly realized violence), all the way to the infinitely sad last-page splash. In a week with Whedon, Moon, Simonson, Fraction, Bendis, Maleev and two Hernendez brothers, Beasts of Burden is the best book of the lot.
Invincible Iron Man #19 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Art: Salvador Larroca
The conclusion of “World’s Most Wanted,” although, superhero soap operas being what they are, there’s no happy ending yet; this just rolls over into the next arc, “Stark Disassembled.” Still, it’s 32 pages of highly-polished action, very well-crafted in the way it’s pulled its wide cast of characters together and given them all a satisfying, logical and heroic part to play in the story, and in the way it pushes a number of long-term Iron-fan buttons (including, of course, Stark ending up in the “old” armor at the end). Larroca is one of those rare artists who’s both design-oriented enough to be able craft clear layouts, and good at drawing both the people and the tech, so he’s a wise choice for this title. Special mention should be given to Frank D’Armata, the colorist; in a world of limited color palettes and murky washes, his work always enhances the art instead of obscuring it, and offers a rainbow of tones that are always effective and clear.
Sugarshock #1 (of 1) — Writer: Joss Whedon; Art: Fabio Moon
The title refers to a rock group (three girls and a robot) whose adventures originally appeared in the online anthology MySpace Dark Horse Presents; for $3.50, we get 24 pages of story (three 8-page chapters forming a whole arc) and 14 pages from Moon’s sketchbook work on the characters and concepts. This is Whedon in Dr. Horrible tongue-in-cheek mode, and if you’re looking for tight plotting or drama it won’t be here, but there’s lots of snappy dialogue, a breezy, anything-goes mashup of sf and rock, and Moon’s wonderful indy way with girls, action and aliens; if you like Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim books, you should check this out.
Vigilante #11 — Writer: Marv Wolfman; Art: Walter Simonson and John Paul Leon
Notable because of the Simonson art; it’s not pure Simonson (it looks like he did mostly pencil layouts, and Leon added a lot in the inking), and it’s in a book going nowhere, but it’s a self-contained flashback story, so you can pick it up and not have to worry about the issues before or after it, and hey: we don’t get to see that much of ol’ Walt any more, so if you’re a fan it’s like a nice visit with an old friend.
Dark Avengers #10 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Art: Mike Deodato
Spider-Woman #2 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Art: Alex Maleev
Bendis, along with Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, is one of Marvel’s backbones right now; he has his quirks, but he always delivers something interesting, and there’s the sense that what happens in his books has a lot of weight with the Marvel Universe as a whole. The last-page reveal in Dark Avengers, for example, suggests that all the Dark Reign stuff is finally starting to move toward an end game, as an old character who’s even more of a possible game-changer than the Scarlet Witch shows up. Otherwise, this is worth it mostly for the group interaction, as the various pseudo-good guys argue and flirt and make snarky remarks to one another. Spider-Woman is much more focused, since it’s only about the one character, and its shadowy spy motifs are matched by Maleev’s equally-dark art; it doesn’t have the wide-ranging sense of consequences that Dark Avengers does, but we’re made to care a lot more about its driven, haunted main character.
Amazing Spider-Man #609 — Writer: Marc Guggenheim; Art: Marco Checchetto; Luke Ross and Rick Magyar
Not a big fan of the tag-team art; the page-to-page style changes caused by two separate illustration teams keep pulling me out of the story (which is easy to do anyway, because this whole Raptor/Ben Reilly/Kaine plot makes little sense), and frankly, neither team is all that compelling (one big payoff panel, showing a character mutated for the first time, is supposed to be dramatic and instead is just silly). Mr. Romita? Mr. Janson? (Heck, even Mr. Bachalo…?) Come back soon.
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:
Dominic Fortune #3 (0f 4) — Writer/Artist: Howard Chaykin
Citizen Rex #4 (of 6) — Story and Art by Mario and Gilbert Hernandez
Batman: Unseen #2 (of 5) — Writer: Doug Moench; Art: Kelley Jones
Gold Digger #111 — Writer/Artist: Fred Perry
Phil Mateer
