Doktor Sleepless #4 — Writer: Warren Ellis; Art: Ivan Rodriguez
Gravel #0 — Writers: Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer; Art: Raulo Caceres
Thunderbolts #118 — Writer: Warren Ellis; Art: Mike Deodato, Jr.
Ultimate Human #1 (of 4) — Writer: Warren Ellis; Art: Cary Nord
Ellis is all over the place this week, split between his for-hire superhero work and his own creations. Of the Marvel titles, Thunderbolts is the better; the third part of a longer story, it offers a very smooth ride, with professionally-rendered thrills and chills and a moment or two of genuine horror. If you want a readable, entertaining grown-up version of a superhero comic, this is a good one. Ultimate Human is four issues of Ultimate Bruce Banner going to Ultimate Tony Stark for help with his, um, you know, anger management issues, and predictable things happening.
Of the indys, Gravel is a promo story for that character’s new series; with its violent occult antihero, it’s always had an offhand, quickly-written B-movie air about it, and that hasn’t changed. Dokter Sleepless is much more ambitious, as at least one extended meditation on near-future media theory in every issue is mixed with violence even more disturbing than Venom’s hunger pangs (and their resolution) over in Thunderbolts. It’s not for everyone, but everyone should check it out at least once, just to see.
Jonah Hex #27 — Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray; Art: Jodi Bernet
It’s a mystery how Palmiotti and Gray, who deliver OK-but-not-great work on Freedom Fighters and assorted Countdown stuff, can craft such perfect little one-issue stories over here in this out-of-the-way-western title. Here they are, though, issue after issue, delivering one intricately-constructed 22-page gem after another — and, with Russ Heath a few months ago, and now Bernet, the art’s been great too.
Countdown to Mystery #4 ( of 8 ) — (Eclipso story) — Writer: Matthew Sturges; Artist: Stephen Jorge Segovia; (Dr. Fate story) — Writer: Steve Gerber; Penciller: Justiniano; Inker: Walden Wong
Both halves of this book deliver good stories this week — the Eclipso episode moves to the front, actually dovetails neatly with events with the character in this week’s Countdown, and gives her/it/them a major restructuring, complete with a couple of nice splash pages. The Dr. Fate story is better written but more quiet, and probably belongs in the back more than its louder, more attention-getting sibling.
Omega the Unknown #4 (of 10) — Writer: Jonathan Lethem; Art: Farel Dalrymple
Much more its own story with this issue, and not so much a repeat of the earlier version. It’s showing signs that it might know where it’s going, and there’s nothing else like it on the stands (it’s channeling early-’90s Vertigo much better than Vertigo itself), and it might still all crash and burn, but right now it’s worth a look.
Detective Comics #840 — Writer: Paul Dini; Penciller: Dustin Nguyen; Inks: Derek Fridolfs
An epilogue to the Ra’s Al Ghul thing (it’s not obvious on the cover, but if you bought into all the other issues of the crossover, you need to get this too). Fortunately, it works OK as a one-shot, although it’s just a variation of a lot of the other villain stand-alone stories Dini’s been providing for this title. It’s mildly annoying in that, after having expended eight comic books to rebuild the character, DC brings him to Gotham City and Batman kind of, like, flicks him with his index finger and that’s that, but anything that retires the character again, at least for a while, is probably a good thing.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #10 — Writer: Joss Whedon; Pencils: Cliff Richards; Inks: Andy Owens
A one-part story by Whedon, in between longer arcs by other writers — and the artist, Richards, drew some 50 issues of the original Buffy series. Otherwise, it’s the just as good, and should appeal to just the same fans, as ever.
Lobster Johnson #5 (of 5) — Writer: Mike Mignola; Art: Jason Armstrong
Good, although I’m not sure that both this title and Hellboy need to mine the apocalyptic-occult-phenomena vein so enthusiastically; Lobster seems a better alternative if he’s not quite so doom-laden. I’m still a complete sucker for this kind of well-done pulp stuff, though.
Phil Mateer
