All right kids, let’s do this!
Shaolin Cowboy #3 Writer/Artist: Geof Darrow
There’s uh… there’s not a lot to say about this comic. For the past two months our titular hero has been fighting the never-ending zombie horde. What that has led to is a series of two-page spreads of a dude with a long stick with two chainsaws attached fighting and fighting until he runs out of gas. Well, about 30 pages later, he finally runs out of gas. So then we get two-page spreads of a dude jumping from head to head over the zombies to try to get his, ahem, footing, again. It’s just a completely ridiculous amazing comic book. I’m not a fan of silent issues, and even I can’t help myself looking through every single page of this book carefully. It’s great, bizarre stuff, and perfect for anyone that wants something different.
Satellite Sam #5 Writer: Matt Fraction Artist: Howard Chaykin
Five issues in, and I’m completely sold on Satellite Sam. It’s a strange book, where a ‘normal’ dude gets thrown into the seedy underworld of his father’s perversions while trying to figure out just who his father actually was. Fraction has been putting together these pieces of a mystery, while mixing all the things that Chaykin loves to draw (cities, women and sci-fi) into a neat little package. It will be interesting to see how long this mystery pans out for (I had heard this was a mini, with potential to become ongoing), but so far all the build has been worth it, and there’s still the potential for many great things to come.
Alex + Ada #2 Writer: Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn Artist: Jonathan Luna
While his brother Joshua Luna has been doing the book Whispers, Jonathan has created this strange sci-fi trip in Alex + Ada. In this world, it’s possible to own a robot to act as your girlfriend, and Alex’s grandma just surprised him with the latest model. There’s a lot of background ideas about the rights for these robots and criticism for the type of people who would use them, but Luna just leaves that on the surface to delve into Alex’s character. He’s using this damaged and confused character to really expound on the ideas of loneliness and heartbreak, all with a side piece about robots. It’s very interesting, and so far, very great.
Justice League #25 Writer: Geoff Johns Artist: Doug Mahnke
Justice League of America #10 Writer: Matt Kindt Artist: Eddy Barrows
While Forever Evil: Arkham War and Constantine both came with ties to Forever Evil, it’s the Justice League titles that actually matter the most to the main story. Justice League heads into more detail about Owlman and how obsessed he is with Dick Grayson. It’s an interesting twist that sets up what is clearly going to be some problems later on in the main title. America sees Martian Manhunter finally figure out what happened to all the other heroes, and sets up what may come next, and gives Martian Manhunter the most that he’s had to do since the New 52 reboot. Both of them are perfectly well-made comics, and aren’t completely essential to the main story, but they are worth it.
Justice League 3000 Writers: Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis Artist: Howard Porter
Ugh. Giffen and DeMatteis really love to write, and that always hurts their books in my eyes. If you add someone like Howard Porter, who’s been pretty consistently messy since getting famous on Grant Morrison’s JLA, and you’re going to have a painful time. This is one of those books. It’s overwritten, it’s strange to look at, it only kind of makes sense, and it’s just kinda painful to read. It’s just the kind of book that seems like DC didn’t know what to do with, so they threw popular creators on it. I’m not expecting it to last very long, and based on the quality of the first issue, you shouldn’t either.
Quick Hits! Let’s do this!
Marvel Knights Hulk #1 Writer: Joe Keatinge Artist: Piotr Kowalski: A fairly generic Hulk story, perfect for people that just want to read a Hulk book.
Doc Savage #1 Writer: Chris Roberson Artist: Bilquis Evely: Dynamite tries to push the latest incarnation of the pulp hero, and it’s fine? Very meh. Didn’t do much of anything that stuck out to me.
Batman Black & White #4 Writers/Artists: Various: Still some of the best work on the stands right now. It’s just worth flipping through to see artists in a style they aren’t normally in. Just so, so great!
Krampus! #1 Writer: Brian Joines Artist: Dean Kotz: So this is a book, and what a weird book it is. It’s at least a mini, and Krampus is going around to fight to save all the incarnations of Santa Claus. It’s… bizarre.
Dead Body Road #1 Writer: Justin Jordan Artist: Matteo Scalera: A competent book about a heist gone wrong and all the people suffering because of it. It’s good stuff and a solid first issue.
Batman #26 Writer: Scott Snyder Artist: Greg Capullo: Boy, this story has been going on for a long time. I’m not even sure what happens in it. It’s an origin story, so I’m pretty sure Bruce Wayne will become a competent Batman by the end.
ALSO! Obviously worth noting is the latest Parker Novel by Darwyn Cooke, Slayground that came out this week. I’m halfway through, and it is just amazing. You should read it.
And that’s the week!
“The” Dan Jacka
