May 8th, 2013

Stores like ours love regular visits. We enjoy getting to know people, understanding why they see us, and being able to give them a reason to come back. Comic try, and many succeed in maintaining predictable schedules, but some don’t. They can’t come in every four weeks, but they pop in as often as they’re able and go for the biggest impression they can manage. And these are fine too.

This week we pop in on three titles that’ve been reviewed in the past, yet haven’t gotten much attention lately. There’s one more title that hasn’t been reviewed before, but should have.

Astonishing X-Men 62 (Liu/ Walta): Bobby Drake doesn’t get a whole lot of attention on the scale of “Characters that’ve been through five kinds of hell and back”, but he should. He was raised by an abusive father, one of his ex-girlfriends misled him into thinking she had his kid, he was mind-controlled by a coma patient until his body nearly imploded under the strain, he’s been shot, chipped, and shattered, and he lost his powers thanks to another mutant’s mental breakdown. Through everything, he’s come back joking. With this new storyline, he may have run out of jokes.

Bobby just got back from a working vacation in the Age of Apocalypse and he didn’t even get a t-shirt. He got some weird tech shoved into his chest. Now he’s having trouble sleeping, tense psychiatric sessions, and is being haunted by his mostly-not-evil ex-girlfriends. The evilest of them, Mystique, thinks something is very wrong with him, and when a master thief/ assassin says something’s wrong, something is very, very wrong. At the same time, winter storms are moving in so fast and powerful that even Ned Stark would be surprised. Every character hopes it’s just coincidence, but every reader should know better.

Iceman consistently puts on a happy face to hide his anxieties, but rarely do we as readers get to see both sides of his persona. It opens the character up by putting his back to the wall on a number of fronts he’s never been comfortable with, and like the reader, other characters love watching him suffer. The effect is something that has both weight and humor. There are a couple of moments in this issue that border on the disturbing, and while they’re supposed to be in the context of the story, it’s still a bit much to read in a mainstream action series.

I’m kind of impressed with the directness this series has kept for so long. It’s the kind of storytelling that throws the stereotypes to the wayside and pushes limits a bit to see what they can do. This is a pretty good jumping on point as well, with a lot of characters explaining recent history.

The Fearless Defenders 4 (Bunn/ Sliney): Identity issues have been one of the biggest factors in comics since the medium first established itself. Most heroes and villains agonize to make sure no one knows who they really are, and the reasons for this behavior are all over the map. Occasionally,  this habit penetrates so deeply that a superpower forgets who or what they are themselves. Such is the case of Valkyrie in the latest issue of Fearless Defenders.

When Odin first came up with the idea of having shield maidens guide fallen mortals to the afterlife, his first attempt didn’t work out so well. These Doom Maidens (Norse, not Latverian) revolted and nearly burned Asgard to the ground before the All-Father shut it down. Caroline le Fay, who I don’t think anyone knows, dug this old project up and is giving it some air, and with a drive any comic collector understands, she wants the complete set.

I wanted to avoid the theme of the all-female superteam with this review. They’re popping up more and more, they keep getting better, and personally I think the best sign of gender equality in comics will be when people stop talking about women's-only superteams and start talking about superteams that happen to be only women. But because it's a growing trend that should grow more, I have to bring it up and say that this reads like a step backwards. The covers of the series have consistently featured women as objects. That’s not helping. “What about content?” you ask? It’s just not good. Characters flip opinions on how much they trust each other within a single page, history is rewritten, reasons aren’t given, and the artwork is boring. I counted three different expressions in the entire issue.

Publishing is a hideous monster-made-real, but the core principle isn’t complicated. If a good book is printed, people will buy it. This isn’t one of them.

Deadpool 9 (Poshen & Duggen/ Hawthorne): Deadpool’s been in touch with his feminine side. He’s cross-dressed, he likes flowers and make-up. He’s even worked with a female version of himself. But having another woman in his head is a whole different kind of trouble, even if that woman happens to be one of the very few he’s ever met that’s come close to appreciating him.

Deadpool got hired by SHIELD to do some dirty work a while back by Agent Preston. She was mostly satisfied with the job and got killed for it, but instead of just dying, she went into Wade Wilson’s mind, which against all logic isn’t a chaotic hellscape. Deadpool and his team want to transplant her into another body, but in order to get the time to pull that off, Deadpool has to kill a few people for a minor demon. They’re not fun gigs.

Deadpool’s a tricky character, mostly because readers want so much from him. He’s a mercenary, so he’s got to be tough, capable, and smart. He’s got superpowers, so his look has to be more form than function. He’s supposed to be funny and insane, so everything he says has to come from a drug-addict’s rectum. He’s trying to be a hero, so he has to have a moral code. These are personality traits that usually contradict each other. They don’t only find a balance here, but they find a balance along with a cast of supporting characters that are about as messed up. And the artwork carries everything greatly. Terrible in parts, but great nonetheless.

Deadpool’s hit-and-miss with a lot of people, but this series is proof as to why the character has endured for so long. A look will confuse, but a read will reward.

Archer & Armstrong 0 (Van Lente/ Henry): This is a title I haven’t read, even after the much-vaunted relaunch of Valiant some time ago. Everyone told me this was the best of the line and I should read it - I think the words “you’re a stupid idiot” were used. So of course I resisted as long as I could, but even someone of my fortitude can only hold out so long.

Armstrong is a hulking immortal always looking for quality of life to go with his abundant quantity. Obadiah Archer is an overly capable young man raised under questionable conditions and born with an unbendable rod up his butt. When they take a break in Las Vegas, they have very different ideas how to spend their time but compromise with Armstrong relating his origin story. It is a tale millennia old and of some fame, though the details are new.

I dig it. In twenty-two pages, not only does the reader learn how an immortal came to be, but they also understand how a person could live through the life and death of civilizations and not go insane or detached or otherwise stop considering themselves a person. Clayton Henry’s artwork captures the nuance and expression that makes such a story work. Words alone would take volumes to accomplish what this does in a single issue. It’s also entertaining.

If someone’s been telling you to pick up Archer & Armstrong, it’s time to listen to them. If someone’s been telling you to invest in their start-up, you can stay on the fence for a while.

So the people I hang out with have good ideas sometimes. I suppose that’s why I grant them my presence on occasion. Hang out with everyone at the Comic Carnival this weekend! We’re not giving away free comics, but we’re worth it.

Looking for older Variant Coverage Blogs by Ryan Walsh for Comic Carnival?  They're here:

Variant Coverage Blog Back Issues