PGHHEAD’S 2022 COMIC ODYSSEY, PART 33
In 2021 I set a goal to post reviews here for 1,000 comics, and finished the year at 1,008 reviews. It was a stretch - - not to read that many comics, because I actually read quite a bit more. The challenge is to find and take the time to write a fair review of what I read - - but I made it. I’m up for a new year, and a new challenge. My goal for 2022 is to read and document 1,200 comics. That’s an average of 100 books per month, easy enough to check and update. Wish me luck!
# GOAL FOR August 20, 2022 . . . 767 comics documented
CURRENT COUNT . . . . . 783 comics documented
#760 BATMAN #125 by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez (DC Comics, September 2022) “Failsafe: Part One” Every time a new creative team takes over the anchor title of the Batman family, long-time fans begin to speculate: “Will it be any good?” “Will it be dark?”, “Will it be gritty?”, “Will it be bold, or break new ground?” etc.
An easier question to answer is will the art team be up to premium standards? I can answer that without reservation: YES! I do like the art here, especially the action sequences with Batman in motion. Very fluid.
Fun to look at.
Back to the speculative questions: that remains to be seen. We’re only one issue in. All I can determine so far (my own opinion, of course) is that it will be entertaining. And, maybe Zdarsky is going to be less afraid to kill some long-running characters than other writers have. He brings two of them near-death this issue. In case you haven’t read this yet, please stop here. There will be spoilers past this point. FOUR STARS.
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Bruce Wayne haunted by nightmares foretelling a fatal future: “I never dream . . . unless I want to. To use my subconscious to piece together a mystery. The mystery is my future.” Is Zdarsky planting some seeds early? This could get interesting. The Robin in this story looks like Tim Drake, but is he? He’s referred to as “Tim” but last name never mentioned. Why would Red Robin give up his gig? Plus, does Zdarsky dare to kill him? That certainly looked like a kill shot, and sent Tim to hospital for the rest of the issue. Penguin is on his deathbed, and plotting revenge against the society that never accepted him. Would Zdarsky kill him off? Interesting. Failsafe, that computer-connected new villain who shows up in the Batcave in the final panel of the story may be an interesting new character? For some unknown reason, this reminded me of the resurrection of a rebellious Ultron in Hank Pym’s old lab (oops, wrong publisher!)
The back-up Catwoman story by Zdarsky and Belen Ortega was interesting, and just a bit more light-hearted than the main feature. Already, players are moving in to take over Penguin’s IceBox night club for criminals. Among the several groups vying for control is The Underbroker, who brings along huge metallic character The Executor. Selina later strikes a deal with The Executor for half a million in exchange for locating theater people mentioned in his will, allegedly his children.
Gary is the main character, a roofer by trade, “who likes to get high and he likes to get paid.” His girlfriend, Krystal (“been married before. She can’t recall if it was three times, or four.”) gets thrown in the Glades County jail and needs Gary to produce the $500 bail. He tries various get-money-quick plans and visits a pawn shop, a sleazy attorney, a waffle hut, has a road rage encounter with a gun-toting female judge and gets himself arrested.
Poor guy. Despite a trio of artists, the work here is pretty seamless and not easy to spot the differences in illustrators. “Florida Fanmail”,the made-up letters page is a hoot. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#762 ABSOLUTION #1 by Peter Milligan and Mike Deodato Jr. (AWA/Upshot, July 2022) In the creator spotlight in back of the book, Peter Milligan refers to his created world where “neurobiology and crime is accepted . . . Absolution as entertainment.” Indeed. Issue #1 is one big action scene.
And AWA CCO Alex Alonso sums it up quite well in his editorial, saving me the time to do it. Main character and convicted murderer Nina Ryan, “to evade her death sentence embarks on a harrowing question for absolution that is live-streamed to a global audience that serves as her judge, jury and executioner.”
Her hit-man/hit-woman assignments become entertainment with television commentators critiquing her actions as they occur. Nina has to convince the audience that she deserves absolution. If her score gets too low, the bombs planted in her skull explode.
Brought to life through Mike Deodato’s thrilling images, I see some influences from Jim Steranko and George Perez peeking through the art. However, Deodato is again employing his overlay page design where he draws a page without heavy panel borders and then overlays everything with a white grid that sometimes doesn’t make sense when just a piece of the scenery is in the panel. I think he’s been over-using this lately.
While this is an engaging story (and one that I feel I’ve read before, with just a couple differences) I’m not feeling it. I admire Peter Milligan, but he doesn’t do a deep dive into the psyche of his character the way that I’m used to, and I miss that here. I guess the setting and world was complex enough that he couldn’t add anymore. Maybe next issue. I may sit this out. THREE STARS.
#763 DARK SPACES: WILDFIRE #1 by Scott Snyder and Hayden Sherman (IDW, July 2022) IDW Publishing, where it seems long-running licensed properties go to retire, is hoping to draw more attention to their original works with the release of six IDW Originals between July 2022 - April 2023. On a side note I’m personally looking forward to EARTHDIVERS by Stephen Graham Jones, one of my favorite horror novelists.
DARK SPACES: WILDFIRE is the first of them and it’s very encouraging and has one hell of a twist in the final narration. This one is a little long on introduction, but necessary. All it took for me to keep going was the two-page prologue in the front and that narrative twist at the end. The middle is full of character development and insights into the dangerous business of fighting forest fires. I learned a lot and never once felt like I was sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture.
Scott Snyder has come a long way in his story-telling ability and it really shows here. There’s a lot more here than a simple story of five female convicts working a fire-fighter prison-sponsored program for two bucks a day. They come up with a get rich quick plan that’s not without a huge amount of risk.
Hayden Sherman’ art is the best I’ve seen so far, very evocative and illustrative of the situations. His fire images are amazing. Also, make a note to keep an eye on the color work of Ronda Pattison when award-time rolls around for 2022.
A great beginning in Issue #1. Different and distinctive. I was going to wait on a trade but I may just grab Issue #2 this week. FIVE STARS.
#764 - #775 BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #1- #12 by various writers and artists (DC Comics, 2015) Labeled as a big-deal title when it debuted, this maxi-series featuring multiple writers and a rotating cast of artists might get confusing at times, and it did. Still upon a second reading many years later things started to make more sense. If you're a patient reader, this one is notable for featuring most of the Batman-family members. They comprise the main story, if you can discern it among all the various sub-plots within, with Batman absent and seen only in flashback scenes.
The most interesting theme here is the role of Mother, a recruiter of displaced youth with similar or engineered parental deaths like Bruce Wayne experienced, and then molding them into new vigilante/mercenary types. She has a long history with Batman, and allegedly was contacted by Bruce when he was not entirely happy with the performance of Robin (Dick Grayson) and sought out a replacement. Another theory is that Bruce Wayne employed Mother to find him a female companion he could share his secrets with. There are a lot of half-truths and deception within the story itself, so I still haven't figured out what is true.
The art work is fairly seamless, considering all the different creators involved. Although they seem to illustrate characters differently (especially Red Hood) which can add to the confusion. A fun series, but not really essential to the Bat legacy. THREE STARS.
I love this short little collections of pre-Golden Age stories in various genres that Source Point’s Editor-In-Chief (Joshua Werner) puts together.
The credits page even includes what is known of the creators. Sadly, colorists weren’t usually noted in the comics of that time period. The only thing that would make this even more satisfactory to the historian/completist in me would be if Werner would reveal the source of each story. (Publisher, Title, Date of Release, etc).
The best tale here is “Stowaway”, about a young man who sneaks aboard a space expedition because he has a desire to become a space pilot. It’s penciled and inked by the late great Steve Ditko.
The three other stories and short text pieces are also worthwhile, like a time capsule into a simpler time. My, how comics have evolved.
THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#777 THE LONESOME HUNTERS #1 by Tyler Crook on script, art, colors, and letters (Dark Horse, June 2022) Damn, another impressive debut that is going to force me to make some hard decisions. This is way beyond what I thought Crook capable of, better-than-average art for him as well as a ripping good beginning to the story. This is the best art I have seen him produce. There is a two-page spread of the main character walking down some dreary streets on an overcast day that is stunning, good enough to be featured in an art gallery.
One hundred years ago a young man was given the responsibility of weilding a magical weapon, a big fat blunt sword that looks like a paddle, against a demonic foe. His father, the leader of a band of religious warriors against pagan worship, entrusted him with it for unspecified reasons. Maybe it requires an innocent to use it. Just my guess.
The son, Howard, hesitates at the last minute, which give the pagan god (an animated elk) time to destroy the false temple. Howard is the only survivor. Because of his shame he goes into hiding and tries to distance himself from what happened. Immortality comes with the sword, and he’s a bent-over old man (but with a feisty attitude) when the story begins as he is pulled back into the hunt he’s been avoiding along with a young girl who has taken what may turn out to be a magical timepiece.
The art and colors, and facial expressions, are what really drive home the points of the story and made me pay attention. FOUR STARS.
This is the best adaptation of the novel that I've seen so far, which I read in the single issues published by Bluewater. Rather than copy many of the movie elements, as many other comics versions have before, this stays true to both the plot as well as the tone and meaning of the novel. There are also some minor changes and updates to keep readers familiar with the original work guessing.
The story is well paced, with some scenes devoted to character development as well. The art is interesting, some of the first work done by a young Daniel Gete. However, he was only able to complete four of the six issues, and the complexity of the art took a slight downturn after that. FOUR STARS.
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