Kick Drum Comix #1 — Writer/Artist: Jim Mahfood
For $6, you get 48 pages of Mahfood, beautifully colored on glossy paper; the first story, “Death of the Popmaster,” is an over-the-top B-movie tale involving monsters, rock stars and lots of shooting and blood, while the second, “Coltrane’s Reed,” is just the kind of coming-of-age story that its title suggests, skillfully done. Mahfood’s art is more accomplished and confident here than it’s ever been (the coloring and larger size of the pages really makes it pop), and he delivers a couple of perfect, poster-ready splash pages, plus an attractive cover. If he has a weakness, it’s in the too-staticy action pages, but everything’s composed so well otherwise, and looks so idiosyncratically good, that it’s easy to forgive.
Batman Confidential #21 — Writer: Fabian Nicieza; Art: Kevin Maguire
Conclusion (the fifth of five parts), so we can officially note that this was a good, classically-structured Barbara Gordon Batgirl vs. Catwoman vs. the bad guys story, with fan-service-but-tasteful scenes in a nudes-only club, lots of rooftop leaping, a climactic battle through most of the villains in Arkham, and Kevin Maguire art throughout that made it easy to remember just what was so attractive about all those 1980s bwah-ha-ha Justice League books. Get all five issues now or wait for the inevitable trade, but check it out.
B.P.R.D.: The Warning #3 (of 5) — Writers: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi; Art: Guy Davis
Right in the middle of a story, but worth mentioning for the Davis art: the huge steampunky robots with the tentacles, and the subterranean bad guys, are cool, but what makes this book is that the quieter, talking-head scenes have their own spooky, character-driven pleasures; every page has some panel or expression or weird creature that that’s worth admiring and absorbing.
Amazing Spider-Man #571 — Writer: Dan Slott; Pencils: John Romita, Jr.; Inks: Klaus Janson
This has, quietly, gotten pretty good: Slott is the most assured of the Spidey-writers right now, and even though “Anti-Venom” should be stupid, it isn’t. The JR Jr/Janson art contributes, too; their versions of the characters feel right (even the Osbornes), and the various subplots click right along, and it’s all smooth and enjoyable enough to make you forget about deals with the devil. For a while….
Young Liars #7 — Writer/Artist: David Lapham
Um… hmmm. Is this story of Sadie’s origin, in which we find that she really is one of the spider conquerors from Mars, a hallucination caused by the bullet in her brain? Is it a Grant Morrisonian inversion of reality that’s meant to show us the truth behind the already-weird stuff that’s been happening in this series? Is it one of those Twin Peaks or X-Files-type deals where it looks like there’s a vast overall plot that makes sense, but we slowly realize that the creative team has no idea where they’re going? Tune in; at least Lapham’s getting me to keep reading it….
Secret Invasion #6 (of 8) — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Penciler: Leonil Francis Yu; Inker: Mark Morales
The Earthers-welcoming-the-aliens bit seems a little too Mars Attacks (God help us), and it’s not quite clear how all the pieces get moved into place on the board — this may be a sprawling, jerry-rigged mess, but it’s also always fun and never boring, and the two two-page splashes at the end make it hard to resist buying the next issue.
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:
The Goon #28 — Writer/Artist: Eric Powell
Criminal #5 — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Art: Sean Phillips
Phil Mateer
