I’ve been numbering my entries, picking up where I left off with the I LOVE COMICS 3000 CHALLENGE as one of the participants on the Captain Blue Hen Facebook page. This started as a challenge from friendly comic shops in Ohio and Texas, originally as the 1,000 Comics Challenge, then the 2021 Comic Book Quarantine Odyssey, and then I Love Comics 3000 - - all goals met by the group of Captain Blue Hen customer participants. I’m curious to see how long it takes me to read that many comics. My journey began with the 1,000 Comics Challenge on approximately March 15, 2020.
#541 - #544 RAI, VOLUME 2: BATTLE FOR NEW JAPAN (Valiant Entertainment, 2016)
Matt Kindt definitely put his stamp on the Rai mythos with his work on this title and the subsequent 4001 A.D. Holds up well on re-reading. FOUR STARS.
Reprints RAI Issues #5-8. The Goodreads summary says:
“In the aftermath of the devastating battle for 41st-century Japan, Rai must pick up the pieces as he grapples with the startling truth about Father and his purpose. Will Rai remain a champion of the people or will he succumb to the same fate as the men who carried the mantle before him? And why is everyone looking at him so strangely?”
#545 - #548 RAI, VOLUME 3: THE ORPHAN (Valiant Entertainment, 2016) These concluding issues of the run-up to the 4001 A.D. series were the best yet. Rai falls from New Japan to Earth, losing Father's sponsorship. He manages to survive, make new friends (great characters) and renew his mission, with all mysteries to his background/origins solved. Reprints Rai Issues #9-12. FOUR STARS.
#549 HAWKEYE: FREEFALL #6 (Marvel, November 2020) The final issue doesn’t disappoint, although it is lean on humor compared to the previous issues. Things get serious as Hawkeye has had enough. Bullseye stole his Ronin costume and is committing crimes. Clint gets into to it with both Bullseye and the Hood. Did he take him out for good? Last two pages are vague about it. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#550 RAVENCROFT Institute For The Criminally Insane #4 (Marvel, November 2020) The Unwanted, mutated test subjects from past Ravencroft experiments, continue their takeover of Ravencroft, torturing John Jamesonand imprisoning Misty Knight and Norman Osborn. Misty gets out and escapes into the sewers below Ravencroft - where another gun-packing vigilante shows up. I was enjoying Frank Tieri’s story more in the earlier issues where there was a bit of mystery. However, Angel Unzueta is killing it on the art. THREE STARS.
#551 - #554 CRIMINAL MACABRE: MY DEMON BABY by Steve Niles, writer and Nick Stakal, artist. (Dark Horse Comics, September 2008) Paperback, 104 pages
"I felt a rib snap, and that wet going down my back was just warm enough to be blood. . . . Plus, guess what? Mustard in an open wound hurts like a bitch! . . . It was nights like this that made me wish I had a pez filled with Vicodin.”
I’m a fan of Steve Nile's Cal MacDonald character, a hard-boiled detective of the occult and monstrous. He reminds me of John Constantine/Hellblazer in that both are substance-abusers and smart-ass cynical observers. Their narratives are full of wry comments. However, while Constantine solves his problems with magic, Cal McDonald pulls out the guns. FOUR STARS.
A longer review can be found on this blog in the September archives.
#555 - JOIN THE FUTURE #5 of 5 (Aftershock Comics, September 2020) A country girl with a western six-shooter against the sheriff’s department and a city’s armed forces with tech weapons and gear. Tear her community down, relocate the residents to the futuristic city, and then plow over her homelands, will they? One against many. One woman against a mob of men. One individual against a corporation. That Clementine Libby is one hell of a determined fighter! Outstanding. FOUR AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#556 - #572 THE BEAUTY, VOLUME 1 (Image Comics, 2016) What if you could lose excess weight, tone muscles and get more beautiful and/or handsome every day? In The Beauty, this becomes possible through an STD. Soon, half the population of our self-image obsessed society is infected. Of course there are side effects. Because this is a horror story, one that deftly blends its’ social commentary with manipulative exploitive corporations and corrupt politicians and federal agents. Whew. FIVE STARS.
A more detailed review appears on this blog in the September Archives . . . . . .
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