Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft #1 (of 3) — Adapter/Artist: Richard Corben
Corben doing Lovecraft: that either excites you or it doesn’t. Me, I’m there; that’s exactly the kind of moody horror he’s built his career on. Adding the text of the actual stories and poems being adapted is a welcome, classy touch, too. Not everything works — the whole “hideous creatures that words can’t describe” bit makes them hard to draw, too — but what other artist (not named Mignola) could tackle this project so well?
The Boys #19 — Writer: Garth Ennis; Art: Darick Robertson
Still motoring along, and getting, if anything, better as it grows. Look here, at how the creative team interweaves three stories — the origin of the supes, a confrontation between the Homelander and Billy, and “mucking out the Lamplighter” — effortlessly and seamlessly. The idea that they have to put in something over-the-top/disgusting in every issue is dangerous, because it can so easily become gratuitous (that sometimes happened in Preacher, too), but hey: when you get done with this comic, you can’t wait for the next one, and there isn’t much higher praise than that.
American Splendor #3 — Writer: Harvey Pekar; Artists: Rick Geary; John Cebollero; Warren Pleece; Dean Murphy; Chris Samnee; Dean Haspiel; Josh Neufeld; Darwyn Cooke
Cooke does two pages; Geary does three; the best is the Haspiel, nine pages with lots of portraits of jazz musicians. The stories are Harvey being Harvey, and as with Corben you like him or you don’t. As he gets older he seems to be favoring the clear lesson over the subtle moral; his benignly-smiling man-in-the-moon face on the cover indicates a certain hard-earned mellowing, too (unless that’s a shout-out to Ralph Kramden…). If you like slice-of-life strips, this is one of the originals, and hard to beat.
Criminal #3 — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Art: Sean Phillips
The third of three self-contained stories as part of this relaunch, and it focuses on Danica. Brubaker is almost Faulknerian here, with his extended cast whose lives interweave through different times but across the same gritty landscape, and as he jumps around to focus on each in turn, it’s clear that all have tales worth telling. Most come to bad ends, but then that’s both the depressing and the uplifting quality of noir crime fiction: it reminds us that death always lurks in the final sentence, and that it’s only our moral decisions on the way there that set us apart.
Trinity #1 — Writer: Kurt Busiek; Penciller: Mark Bagley; Inker: Art Thibert; (Back-up story): Writers: Busiek and Fabian Nicieza; Artists: Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens
Not a bad start, and we get our money’s worth: for the regular $2.99 there are two fifteen-page stories, one focusing on the Big Three heroes, and the other on what one assumes will be their eventual adversaries. Busiek has thought a lot about the heroes as avatars (it’s the subtext of every issue of his Astro City), and knows exactly how they should sound and interact. He’s also shown the ability to handle long, complicated stories before, so there’s reason for optimism with this weekly series — but, then, I would have said that about Paul Dini at the beginning of Countdown, too, and that didn’t turn out very well, so it might be best to wait awhile and see.
Amazing Spider-Man #561 — Writer: Dan Slott; Art: Marcos Martin
The new villain actually does feel new, and she’s used effectively, while the moral dilemma and win/lose outcome are typically Parkerian, and even the appearance by MJ is done just right. A few of her lines hint that maybe that whispered conversation with Mephisto was about keeping her memories, although even thinking about that story still makes my head hurt; now that this title’s settled into a nice little groove, it’s probably best not to think about how we got here….
Secret Invasion #3 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Penciler: Leonil Francis Yu; Inker: Mark Morales
After last issue’s single-scene focus, this one’s back to jumping around, with lots of updates on various events around the world. The Stark/Jessica bit will get the most discussion, and the most review of previous New Avengers issues (so, if his eyes don’t turn green, that means…?), and the paranoia and what’s-really-happening buzz that they provide are both frustrating and fun.
Stuff I bought and liked, but don’t have anything new to say about, so read previous reviews in the archives if you want to know:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #15 — Script: Drew Goddard; Pencils: Georges Jeanty; Inks: Andy Owens
Kick-Ass #3 — Writer: Mark Millar; Penciler: John Romita Jr.; Inks: Tom Palmer
Phil Mateer
