February 28th, 2013

I have to admit it. There are times when I love my job.

I’m paid to review comic books and graphic novels, that right there is pretty sweet. I’m given a forum to call out creators and publishers, both for when they do something wrong and when they do something right. Some may have this jaded image that as soon as somebody starts reviewing things professionally, they never like anything again, but that’s not true. Yes, we’re critical, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate things even while we’re noting their weak points.

Think of eating pizza with a group of friends: it was made with everyone in mind, and while individuals may pick things off they don’t like, most will enjoy it. I and other reviewers are right there at the same table, but we’re expected to tell the next table whether they’ll like what’s about to come out or not, and at our best, we’re comprehensive. Even if we love what’s on our plate, if we know some people at the next table are allergic to something, we need to share.

Of course, if something is so foul that the only way to get any satisfaction is to warn others away from it, well we might as well warn them in a way that’s funny. Keep all this in mind while I review this week’s books.

Guardians of the Galaxy 0.1 (Bendis/ McNiven): Say what you will about people, but we can be pretty arrogant sometimes. Earth holds the Miss Universe Pageant every year, yet not once have we invited another planet to represent. We tend to forget we’re not the only planet out there, and when we do think about the others, we tend to not think of them kindly. Changing it up (somewhat) is the relaunch of Guardians of the Galaxy, a series about different species coming together to ensure the universe doesn’t break down and wreck all our stuff.

But before all of that, we look at their leader, Peter Quill. Yes, the creature responsible for the continued existence of what passes for order in the cosmos is a human... only not really. Not completely. Meredith Quill left for solitude so she could get some work done, except a spaceship crashed in her front yard and a STTOS alien stumbled out. STTOS aliens, by the way, appear human in every physical capacity but they’re alien because they say so, like more than half of the aliens on Star Trek: The Original Series. Meredith pulls a Kirk, the alien leaves, and ten years later a young Peter Quill has trouble with bullies: their faces keep flying into his slappin’ hand.

This being a prequel book, there are some very hard boundaries that can’t just be crossed. We know the boy’s going to grow up and leave for outer space. We know he’s preternaturally comfortable with alien tech. This issue isn’t a game changer, all it does is take two moments that define the character and put them in the spotlight. It brings the character back down to Earth in the sense that he’s more relatable now, at least as much as a half-alien, cosmic threat exterminating royal pain in the ass can be. Toward the end of the issue the reader’s caught up to present day, and the more traditional Bendis-style dialog comes in, but throughout McNiven delivers very crisp, emotive artwork.

If this is a genuine look at what the series will be like once it fully launches, we’re in for a good ride. Check it out.

Carbon Grey Vol 2 3/3 (Gardner/ Evans & Nguyen): There’s something about Russian history that captivates people. Maybe it’s the regal dynasty with a long-lost heir, or the closest thing to an immortal sorcerer on record, but people keep coming back to it and re-imagining what might have been. Carbon Grey takes the same amount of land, political intrigue, and mysticism, adds a dash of superpowered space rock, and serves it with a garnish of blonde, brunette, and redhead.

“Mitteleuropa” has two very notable families: The Medein are the hereditary leaders of the country, and the Greys trace their lineage back to the first Kaiser’s most trusted friend, bodyguard, and the only superhero in the world, Gottfaust. Trained from birth to protect the kaiser and his family, the thirteenth Grey has become implicated in the current kaiser’s assassination. This issue wraps up the second “act” in the Carbon Grey Saga with the finding of two powerful artifacts and the players behind the global power struggle playing their hands. People think others are dead when they’re not, others are most certainly dead, and in the next volume, called the Final Chapter, it looks like many other things will die.

Personally, this matches the feel of other Russian commodities like borscht or vodka: an acquired taste. There are so many plot threads being played out that one needs to either have taken notes throughout every issue or reference a wiki, which I couldn’t find. When there’s plenty of time and space for those plots to grow and take root in the readers’ mind, this isn’t a bad thing, but developments happen so often and with such intensity that it’s hard to keep up. This is a shame in this medium, because there’re few ways for new readers to catch on, and this denies readers many of those chances.

The artwork takes up a lot of the slack - every character has a very distinct look, providing a much-needed anchor to the narrative. On top of that, the art style’s pretty; digital painting instead of the traditional pencils, inks, and digital coloring gives the series itself a singular, heavy feel.

This is a very dense book, which historical fiction tends to be. When it’s complete and collected, I expect this is going to be a story that meets every definition of “epic”, but for now it’s merely a very demanding series.

Freelancers 4 (Esquivel/ Covey): Before anyone gets excited, this is NOT a how-to guide for becoming successfully self-employed. This is a book about two best-friend orphans that grow up to become bounty hunters. It’s hard to tell the two apart sometimes, we understand.

“Freelancers” in this case are a mix of private eye, bounty hunter, and action hero at the beck and call of the super rich. An orphan named Katherine Rushmore started the industry, and fellow orphans Val and Cass have been fighting their way out of her shadow since setting out on their own. Life outside the orphanage has been hard on them lately, but they’re pushing through. This issue follows them on a bodyguarding case for an identity thief that made the worst identity in the country profitable.

Depth is not one of the items on this book’s menu. This is a book about two hot chicks on the West Coast using kung fu and spouting one-liners. The good news is that Esquivel and Covey know it and they run with it. You get equal portions of pickled puns, deep-fried martial arts, and cheesecake. This is the kind of story that begs to be made into a TV series, but works just as well in a comics format.

This is a slice of light-hearted fun, nothing more, nothing less. It’s not for everyone, but every now and then it can be a treat.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Nemo - Heart of Ice (Moore/ O’Neill): As large, imposing, hairy, and clever as Alan Moore can be, the scariest thing about him these days is that there are two of them. One is the creator of some of the most powerful stories the medium has known to date, the other uses the name to sell mediocre scripts for pocket money. You’re never sure which Alan Moore you’re getting until you open the book. That’s why you have me.

Janni Dakkur, the only child of Captain Nemo, is her father’s daughter. Neither party was wholly comfortable with this, and with him dead, Janni is left with one path to understand the man - by sailing his course. That means a lot of pirating, a bit of politics, and exploring. Driven to prove herself capable of more than her father, she takes the Nautilus to a place Captain Nemo visited, but dared not map, a place where he lost every member of the landing party save himself. And they weren’t even wearing red shirts.

The Alan Moore that writes for LOEG isn’t sure if he wants you to get all the literary references he and Kevin O’Neill use. Catching the nods to world literature has always been a keystone for the series, but the nods are becoming so obscure that they don’t hold the reader as effectively. It’s as if he wants to keep such pieces of work relevant, but also delights in proving he’s better read than everyone. The story underneath is fairly decent, carrying the theme of coming out of “greater men’s shadows” along multiple paths.

This follows up Volume 3 nicely, giving the tragic Janni another chance to find some sense of fulfillment. It may not have the same power as the original, but it’s a decent addition.

Have a great week, everyone! Remember, the next few updates are going to be off-format just a bit, so........ just try to go limp.

August 30th, 2012 - Couples Therapy

Fighting enemies is easy, but fighting with the people you care about is the real test of character. With enemies, every weakness found must be exploited, and it’s a clear win if they’re beaten, but when in conflict with someone that means a lot, just the idea of bringing them pain hurts, and weaknesses are known far too well. As luck would have it, there are a lot of comics coming out this week that adopt this theme, particularly in dealing with love interests. Just to warn everyone, when an action-based comic decides to tinker with the heart, it usually ends up broken.

Justice League 12 (Johns/ Lee), for those whose attention was caught by all the media hype surrounding it, features the first in-continuity kiss between Superman and Wonder Woman. It’s not a rumor, this isn’t a fake-out to draw in readers. They smooch.

All cards on the table: when I heard this might be happening, I didn’t care. If anything, I was slightly against it. Part of what made Superman and Lois Lane interesting to me, along with Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, is that they were paired with such stark opposites on a lot of levels. Clark Kent goes by the book, Lois Lane likes to step on the book as she jumps fences. Diana is direct and holds nothing back, while Steve Trevor relies on stealth and timing to get things done. Watching such couples interact and reach out to each other was intriguing. It also got a lot of comic readers’ hopes up that they might attract someone way above their league. (As in Justice League?! Get it!?!) (CC Note: Calm down, Ryan.)

Superman and Wonder Woman was a pair much talked about in fan groups and movies going back for decades, but never explored in continuity. From a narrative perspective, it’s too perfect. They’re both blue-eyed brunettes, they have similar power sets, they both have exile in their origin stories, their costumes both rely on blue, red, and yellow… they seem too similar to be interesting. That’s the mindset I had going in.

What happened is I underestimated Geoff Johns. He told a wrap-up to his main story that showed the Justice League’s strengths and weaknesses, gave them places to go in the future, and drew the reader in with dramatic tension. And in this, he created a setting in which a couple of powerhouses can find comfort with each other in a natural, mostly believable way. I was impressed.

Jim Lee does what Jim Lee does, and there’s not much more I can say about that.

A v X 5 (Aaron/ Raney and Fraction/ Yu) actually deals with two different couples. A couple of couples, yes, very punny, now that that’s out of the way…



Not everyone may know this, but in current continuity, the Black Panther and Storm are married. One born and raised into royalty, the other grew from a street urchin into a creature of worship. One controls the most advanced civilization on the planet, the other controls the weather itself. One is human, one is mutant. When they work together, it’s beautiful. When they fight, it’s spectacular. It’s also very depressing, because when you get right down to it, they’re fighting for the exact same thing: the preservation of their people.

This brings us to another theme I found repeated through a few of the comics I’m reviewing this week: the leader’s sacrifice. Storm and Black Panther are intelligent people. They know how to assess a situation and plan around it. They also care for one another. With half an hour of deep conversation, they probably could’ve agreed to stay neutral and thus stay together. Instead they jumped in front of their populations to protect them in a time of crisis, and were a bit surprised to find they’d jumped to different sides. It’s VERY possible this happened because rational discourse doesn’t belong in an action comic, but a good job is done to suggest that they’re fighting because they know people are depending on them. Both are very aware of what it does to troops when the commanders sit a fight out, and neither can let that happen.

The other couple is Hawkeye and Angel. The stakes aren’t as personal for them, so they don't hold back. The results are... piercing.

American Vampire 30 (Snyder/ Albuquerque) features another odd couple, this one an immortal vampire and a mediocre musician. Somehow they made it work for something like eight decades. When things got rough one day, they started drifting apart. She ran into an old friend, they went on a couple of business meetings, one thing lead to another… It’s a tale as old as the horseless carriage, only with a lot more blood, claws, and fangs involved.



I’m coming into this series cold, but I don’t feel like I was hindered for that. There’s an immediate sense of what these characters want and what they’ll do to get it, which is a sign of good writing and, in this case, an endearing introduction to the story. The mythology is very different and few details explained, and again I don’t think it’s a big deal. Vampire mythology is so convoluted at this point that every author gets away with doing something different. There’s also a line that suggests the characters themselves may not have as many details on their own condition as they’d like either, which is a fun touch.

Artwise, Albuquerque’s style makes me think of a blend between Sean Murphy and Bill Sienkiewicz – sharp linework that doesn’t always connect smoothly gives the page definition without neatness, a style that works great with a trying to be just askew of what we expect.

FF 21 (Hickman/ Dragotta) is supposed to be the lighter of the books coming from 4 Freedoms Plaza, with more focus on the fun that family can have. Instead, by the end of this issue, I just wanted someone to hug me and tell me things don’t really work like that.                

If I discuss what happens in the comic, I’m going to spoil more things than I normally allow myself to do. I will say that Spider-Man makes a brief but embarrassingly memorable cameo, which brings me to something I CAN write about that addresses this comic.



A few years ago, PeterParker made a deal to “fix” the world around him at a great personal cost. A lot of readers didn’t like this. To them it felt like the story they’d bought, read, and enjoyed for years was being invalidated, and to a degree, they were right. On the other hand, because of the way the deal was made, all the characters involved were more or less okay with things, and as such they could move on fast. The stories that came out afterward rolled with it, and now it’s one of the more popular titles on the shelf, but some readers still feel burned.

That is NOT what happens in this comic.

When it comes to comics, particularly action comics, there really is no such thing as a clean break-up.

To add some much-needed counter-angst, I give you Wolverine and the X-Men 15 (Aaron/ Molina). (Sorry, but I can’t actually GIVE you this book. It costs money, which is something I don’t have a lot of right now, but if I did I would use it to give you things like this issue, but I digress.) (CC Note: You? Digress?) After so many books that could’ve held the subtitle “Love Hurts”, this was a very refreshing change of narrative pace.


A lot of that may be due to the fact that all of the romances featured (and there are many) are only beginning, and may stop before they get a chance to go anywhere. The couple going on the longest is Kitty Pride and Bobby Drake, and in fifteen issues they’re talking about maybe planning a first date. There’s a couple that has a picnic in a cave. A malevolent pig tries to ask three girls out at once, but only if shouting double entendres counts as asking someone out, and if the Stepford Cuckoos count as girls. There’s also a lovely panel where desert people and island people might just get along fine.

There’s a LOT of set-up in this issue. Resolution addicts should look elsewhere for their fix. By the end of this issue, there’s more tension than anything – everyone knows that big changes are coming very soon and that they very well may hurt. That goes for the upcoming conclusion to Avengers Vs. X-Men (October’s not that far away!) just as much as for the burgeoning relationships teased at here.

In summary: a very very cute issue.

There’s no easy way to say this so I’m just gonna say it. I’m going to go see other web sites. It’s not you, I just have nothing left to give right now. But maybe we can get together some time next week to talk about comics? I’d like that.

August 23rd, 2012

Most of the characters we read about don’t stay down. They can be knocked out, psychologically abused, physically pushed beyond the point of exhaustion, but somehow they always find the strength to stand up one more time and deliver the day-saving play. We want to be just like them, able to make that last-minute miracle happen, against all odds and in the face of all nay-sayers. We at Comic Carnival are recovering from Gen Con, even those of us who didn’t attend - they covered for those of us who did. As such, this blog entry may be a bit shorter than what you’re used to. But, as I told a pleasantly snarky GM this past weekend, I’m going for quality over quantity.

Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan 1 of 4 (Straczynski/ Hughes) is a literary medium experiment. Sequential art depends on linear time and order to make the story tellable. That’s why it’s called sequential art. Dr. Manhattan of the Watchmen does not experience time linearly. He’s as much a “quantum event” as a human, defined by his perception of himself. As such, he looks as he thinks he should look and experiences things in whatever order he chooses, so telling a story around him in linear sequence wouldn’t seem to make sense. Nonetheless, this is Dr. Manhattan’s origin story, along with unexpected twists that set it apart from the one in the original graphic novel.

J. Michael Straczynski tries his best, and is able to give the reader the impression of what it would be like to jump from point to point in one’s own timeline. I’d like to say this was what he meant to accomplish, but this is 1 of 4, the beginning of a larger story. The end certainly asks questions I want answered, but it plays up the quantum angle of events so much by then that there’s no clear indicator that what see even matters or will matter.  By the end of this first issue, I’m not sure what’s going on, only there’s more of it to come.

Adam Hughes does the artwork. Do you know how long it’s been since Adam Hughes did interior artwork? Because I don’t. It’s been that long. The man makes a living on cover art, a great living, and he deserves it. Long ago, WAAAAAY back, he did interiors. It’s an event anytime an artist goes from interiors to covers and then back, and I’m pleased to say he doesn’t disappoint. Hughes is probably best known for his cheesecake, and this should remind readers that his page layouts and overall construction are healthy as well.

Lobster Johnson (Mignola/ Arcudi/ Torres) is a one-shot tale in the classic BRPD fashion, with fantasy and reality coexisting even as they appear to hunt each other. Lobster Johnson is pretty much the Batman of the BRPD-verse, a gadget-dependent lone wolf that goes up against anyone that hurts and kills people, not batting an eye when they turn out to be supernatural cultists.

I mentioned the “classic BRPD fashion” before, but until now never really gave much thought to what that was. There aren’t many origin stories in the BRPD, instead the reader is thrown into the middle of things and expected to catch on. This happens more often than not because the stories we’re thrown into the middle of aren’t complicated. Primal forces have primal desires, and primal desires don’t need much explaining. They don’t need a complicated response, either, just a definite one.

This example of the classic BRPD style showcases the Clawed Crusader tracking down a thief and murderer to an Egyptian cult, complete with clandestine meetings of the cultural elite, at least one woman in revealing clothing, and reversal after reversal after reversal. Things die. Some of them have it coming.

The writing is efficient. It tells what needs telling. There’s no character development, but this isn’t a story that calls for such things. This is a short action piece, and it does that well. The art reminds me a little bit of Mike Mignola’s style, but not too much. Not to the extent that I feel distracted by it. It’s just real enough to make a connection, but cartoony enough that my eyes just had a fun time. If you’re in the mood for a bit of old-school mystic murder mystery delivered in a single dose, this is your buy.

There’s plenty else coming out this week, some of which you may really enjoy, others you may not. Come on down and look around, you may find a treasure that I didn’t.

August 16th, 2012

It’s madhouse week at Comic Carnival, mostly because it’s a week where the entire city of Indianapolis goes a bit mad. People dress funny, group sit in rooms for hours at a time pouring over notes about things that don’t exist, and all of downtown pretty much locks down. That’s right, it’s Gen Con! Before I lose everyone to their dice bags, I’d like to remind everyone that there are MANY who aren’t going to attend the convention, and that funny books are still coming out on schedule. Relax.

Pathfinder 1 (Zub/ Huerta): Okay, here’s a book that is your gateway to Gen Con. It’s based off the popular roleplaying game that I have never played, but as I understand these things it’s like the Linux version of Dungeons & Dragons - an open-source game based off a more mainstream one that, while technically very sound and satisfying, only the hardcore need apply. Like I said, I’ve never played the game, so I can’t speak to that.

The comic I can speak for, and will speak for, as I do many comics. The art and writing styles are similar in that they’re not especially tight, but they’re fun. It’s got all the usual trappings: a warrior, a thief, and a mage walk into a bar, stumble upon a plot that seems tiny but is really much bigger, and they’re the only ones that can stop it. There’s nothing new going on.

That being said, the execution is well done. The action parts are graphic and fast, the exposition parts don’t drag the overall book down, and there’s humor enough to keep things entertaining. For all the crazy settings, the coked-up spellwork, and the designs that inspire head-scratching, the characters are very grounded and relatable. That guy that throws the meticulous plan out the window because nothing’s died in the past five minutes? The one that gets the entire party into trouble? I know that guy. That guy makes me laugh even as I wish I could choke him over Skype. And he’s here.

You may not read this book, but it’ll be acted out in various forms hundreds of times this weekend in Indianapolis. If you can’t be here to play it yourself, reading it may be the next best thing.

Birds of Prey 12 (Swierczynski/ Richards): I try to pick one book a week that I know nothing about, hold my breath, dive in, and see what sticks to me when I surface. My dive-right-in book this week was Birds of Prey, and as with many DC titles I try this experiment with, I didn’t fare well.


The Birds of Prey franchise is historically about a small cadre of B-level or less heroes, often female, that basically watch the superhero community’s backs. When someone tries to rob a bank, Superman comes in and slugs them with a smile and flash of pearly teeth, but when someone tries to rob Superman, the Birds drag the robber into a back alley where he/ she is broken into pieces. I don’t know the details behind this particular group, but somehow Poison Ivy has co-opted the group into going after polluting tycoons. Maybe it’s because the tycoons have manipulated the Justice League somehow, maybe it’s because Ivy possibly infected the group with a virus she’s keeping dormant unless they do what she asks, maybe one side or the other is on a new self-help regiment. I simply don’t know.

I really tried, but I couldn’t get into this. I was not drawn into the story at any point. Apparently everyone’s disappointed that a known murderer and ecological terrorist is willing to do unpleasant things? The art’s okay, but it’s not worth the price on its own, and the story just doesn’t contribute.

Daredevil 17 (Waid/ Allred): Last week I bemoaned It-Girl for daring to have a Mike Allred character not drawn by Mike Allred. This week we get a non-Allred character drawn by Allred. A weird bit of juxtaposition, but if you had no idea who or what I was talking about last week (CC Note: as opposed to any other week?), this is a good place to learn for yourself.

Daredevil is Matt Murdock, a blind man whose other senses compensated the way a teenager on a meth-LSD cocktail reacts to a micro-change in air density - they flipped out and went into overdrive. Matt learned how to process the new input before going insane, but this issue highlights that his closest friends may have just been waiting for insanity to finally show up. Murdock’s father’s bones appeared in Matt’s office. His friends think he dug them up and brought them there, and Matt’s not defending himself. He may have a perfectly reasonable explanation, like his best friend did in a similar situation, or he may be due for a straightjacket, it’s not made clear.

Daredevil’s never been a stable character. He’s great at his best, he’s hideous at his worst. Mike Allred is one of the few artists that can communicate the beauty behind both. Waid provides plenty of material for him and the reader to work with as well. This is kind of a one-off issue, but a good one.

The Shade 11 (Robinson/ Irving): After craploads of artist changes, location changes, character change-outs, and apparent wandering with no clear focus, finally there is something that resembles payoff.

It’s hard for me to “introduce” The Shade because he’s never had an introduction. Part of his character is that he’s immortal, every story he’s been in has him well established already, and the question of how he came to be has been brought up many times, but never fully addressed. His current foes get their introduction in this issue fast and full, and by the end there’s no ambiguity at all about where they came from or why they do what they do.

Through the conflict between the Shade and the Celestial Pharaohs (I know, just smile and nod...), all the disjointedness of the series to date starts coming into focus, and it’s made clear why things have led up to this point. And we’re assured that in the next issue, we’ll get our introduction to the Shade after years of waiting.

In a review of a previous issue, I think I wrote that this is not a series that brings in new readers. I feel the need to go one step further and say this isn’t for monthly readers, either. I’m going to try rereading this series after it’s done, all in one sitting, and I predict I’m going to really enjoy it. With four weeks between chapters as it is now, it’s a very difficult read.

That’s about all I have for this week. I’m assigning homework - go do something fun.

August 9th, 2012

This week I’m focusing on going off the rails. I think most people know what that means, even if they don’t know where the expression comes from.  Most of the time, going off the rails means someone messed up and  something really bad happened, but in literature (comics especially) it  means someone tried to do something very different. Purists see this as a catastrophe. An open mind can find new things to love. Here’re some  books.

Punk Rock Jesus 2 (Sean Murphy): This series is supposed to be about how the world gets  along with the clone of Jesus son of Mary (or whoever was wrapped in the Shroud of Turin, if we’re going to get technical). After two issues,  said clone does not have speech or fine muscle control, but because he’s a little baby, everything this kid does is a miracle.    

So far, what the series is actually about is a violent man’s lifelong  quest to do God’s work. The bodyguard in this story has had people  around him all his life telling him why things happen, and how they know what God wants him to do. He’s reached the point in his life where he’s ready to make his own judgments on that score, and whether his choices  will please God or not, he’s going to make one group of mortals or  another very unhappy.

All the questions raised in the first issue persist in the second,  along with a couple of follow-ups, none of which get answered.  Implications aplenty, but nothing stands out as an answer. This  ambiguity may be an intentional parallel to another book about a messianic figure, or it may just be the work of a comic creator addicted to cliffhangers, it’s hard to tell. This makes it difficult to review this issue,  because I really can’t be sure what’s a development, what’s a dead end, and what’s a total fake-out.

Incredible Hulk 12 (Aaron/ Pacheco): The Hulk has been written many different ways. Peter  David wrote his Hulk with advanced multiple personality disorder. The  movies seem to favor writing Hulk as an otherwise normal guy high on  rage-amphetamines. Bruce Jones likened the Hulk to a very powerful gun:  terribly dangerous, but with determined practice, something one could  wield effectively. Jason Aaron’s approach is a lot like Jekyll and Hyde, only he throws foresight into the mix - Banner and the Hulk hate each  other, but Banner’s better at planning ahead to turn the Hulk’s behavior to his advantage.



Banner’s behavior has been erratic of late, and it got him thrown into a shadow prison, which is just what he wanted. By the time the Hulk shows up, two of the only characters that can reliably confront the Hulk and live to talk about it show up to  stop things from getting too intense. They fail. For what it’s worth,  Hulk wants the same thing the heroes do, but Banner’s removed that option. By the end of this issue, some context is dropped like water in front of a delirious dehydration victim, explaining what Banner’s plan has been this whole time. The more things change, the more they stay the same.    

On a petty note, I understand that the Hulk should be on the cover of his own book, and Wolverine will cease to exist if he’s not on at least  five covers a week, but surely the cover artist should have found some space for Aunt Petunia’s favorite blue-eyed bouncer. This is a good issue, and the cover doesn’t do it justice.

Batman 12 (Snyder/ Cloonan with Tynion IV/ Clarke): This is a one-off story, a golden opportunity for new readers to get their feet wet in current Bat  comics, however Batman hardly shows up here. This isn’t necessarily bad, and in this case it provides a very fresh perspective on what Batman means to the people he protects, which just doesn’t happen a lot of the time.



Harper Row is a young municipal electrician that’s been trying to fix  things since she was old enough to reach a work table. She has a  brother, an apartment that’s about to get torn down, a promise from a spoiled rich guy that something better will go up in its place, and two ways of  thinking: Figure out how X works, and Figure out how to make X work  better. When she gets a little taste of the sweet life, she dives in  head-first against all sane advice, and somehow comes out smiling.

I’m saying it - if it weren’t for the Cloonan art, I’d have passed this by. Becky Cloonan brings out the humanity in everything she draws.  Scott Snyder her gave her plenty to work with, and she worked it here.  It’s a good thing they got her on board, because otherwise I’d have  missed a neat little story. It’s a shame she couldn’t do the whole  issue, but the jump isn’t too bad.    

There’s the implication that these characters may show up again. DC, I would like this to happen.

It Girl 1 (Rich/ Norton): It Girl is a spinoff of Madman, both created by Mike Allred. Allred’s art style matches his writing:  characters that are just slightly misaligned with the rest of the world, and fantastical concepts with one foot dipped in realism. If you know  and like Mike Allred, you know there’s no one quite like him on the  market. So you should really know that Mike Allred is not involved with  the production of this book - this is a Jamie Rich and Mike Norton  joint.


It Girl is a bored superhero. Her  friends have gone off into space for adventures set to music, perhaps to fight on behalf of a cosmic Joss Whedon, and when they left they took most of the local excitement with them, it seems. Choking under ennui, she allows herself to play guinea pig to  friendly neighborhood mad scientists and test some neurological  whosiwhatsits. It may be the end of the series before we get a final  result.     I like Jamie Rich and Mike Norton. Alone they have good bona fides.  Together they’re a good team. But when playing in Mike Allred’s toy  cabinet, the only person that can do everything just how we like it is  Mike Allred. A bit sad, but true. (CC NOTE:  It's been announced that Allred will be working on the excellent Daredevil series!)

Gambit 1 (Asmus/ Mann): Gambit perplexes me. I never really got Gambit’s  popularity. The trench coat, the staff, the playing cards, he used them  all well, but I didn’t think that was enough to sustain the appeal he  seemed to draw from the general audience. He mixed things up with  whatever team he was on, kept everyone on their toes, but to my mind  never really had a stand-out moment of his own. But in reading page one  of this issue, I think I understand where the demand for his own series  came from.

This is for that demographic,  once of myth, that’s rapidly taken a very real and solid foothold in the market: the women that read comics. Geek conversations were had, maybe  petitions were signed, someone at Marvel listened, and now this. This  was never about exploring new parts of the character. Your goal was  never about answering burning questions of his past, or setting up what  his future would be. You wanted to see him stark naked, didn’t you? Up  until now, you’ve read every word dialogue from his mouth with accents  of smokey bourbon, looked into those dark pools with the hint of fire  where his eyes should be, and you got weak in the knees. You ached to be in his world, for him to hold your hand as he fled an improvised crime  scene, where you’re the only one that might save him from incarceration. And as he lets go of your hand, there’s a look on his face that says he just let go the most interesting prize on the planet.    

Well, ladies. You. Just. Got it.    

Gay men with this scenario on their private list, sorry. You could get your fix somewhere else, but it won’t be here.

Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe 2 (Bunn/ Talajic): I try not to do this. Back-to-back reviews of a single title strikes me as favoritism. The fact that I’m doing it twice in  this installment has not escaped me. But this needs to be said, and it  needs to be said now.

This series is about sanity in an insane world. Think of any logistical reason you’ve been  mad at a comic, doesn’t matter if it’s Marvel or DC or Image or  whatever, or any story cliche where a certain type of character wins  while another loses. I think this series is going to take every one of  those fallacies on and tear them apart. Flaws and errors will be hunted  and punished. And they’re going to do it on a weekly basis until there’s nothing left to kill.    

And that. Is. Awesome!

Spider-Men 4 (Bendis/ Pichelli): I was done with the Ultimate Universe. I really was. Bendis’s Ultimate Spider-Man drew me in and had me for a long time. He and his artists did good, then he did great, and then he didn’t do so great. I thought, in all  seriousness, that he’d done everything he could do and needed to move  on. And maybe he still does need to move on. But this issue merits a look.



This is the good-bye to Ultimate Peter Parker everyone needed. Torches feel passed, good-byes get said, and (hold onto your monocles, everyone) some characters actually feel closure. Maybe too much is said for your  liking, maybe not enough, but this issue in particular reminds me of a  day when Bendis played to his strengths and let the characters dictate  what happened.
If you’ve already walked away from USM, I understand, but do give this a look. Some genuinely touching moments  happen. The mini-series ends next issue, and from the way this issue  ended, we’ve gotten most of the character moments we’re likely to get.  From here on, all signs point to Slugfest. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m feeling drained.

I better stop here and rest, because next week is gonna demand a lot of energy from everyone at Comic Carnival. Happy reading!

August 2nd, 2012

Our readers may not realize it, but there’s a lot going on this Wednesday.  Of course, it’s New Comic Day at the Comic Carnival (Yea!), but it’s  also the first day of August (fine, I guess), which for some people means new paychecks (YEA!) that will go toward paying bills (boo!),  rent/ mortgage (AKA comic storage), and other necessities (I have needs, darn it!). August is an auspicious month (I love my Word-a-Day calendar) because it generally marks the end of summer (no, that’s the Earth’s distance and regional angle toward the sun)(shut up). In a few  weeks, school starts again (if you attend), farmers pull in their last  harvests (at least if they got enough water), stores put away their  summer sale signs (What?!) and dust off their Christmas sale signs  (oy…). We need to enjoy these last days of summer, because if the Mayans were right it may be our last summer (duh dun DUN).   On that note, happy comics!

Happiest of them all may be Beasts of Burden: Neighborhood Watch (Dorkin/ Thompson), three short stories about a team of cats and dogs  working together to protect the people of their town from things that go bump in the night.

Jill Thompson’s art is simply adorable, even when it depicts creatures and  acts that chill the reader to their bones. Evan Dorkin’s stories don’t  end completely happily, but wrongs are set right, everyone gets home  mostly okay, and we’re all a bit richer for the experience.

Matt Fraction and David Aja take their method from Iron Fist and use it in Hawkeye 1: they take the essential parts of the main character, polish them, make  each shine, and then show why the whole is so much more.
Clint Barton is used to running around with superhuman legends. It gets rough when he gets thrown off a building and, while said legends might  get right back up, he has to spend over a month in traction. But because he’s Clint Barton, as soon as he’s physically able, he’s back out and  finding trouble, which conveniently has arrived where he lives. He wins  in a few ways, and ultimately this’ll cause him more trouble as the  series goes on.

What I enjoy about the  more normal supers is that, when they’re written well, they treat the  reader to the fun side of being pragmatic. Heroes like Superman and Captain America worry about the conditions of the fight, like whether or not the opponent has enough chances to consider their actions, and how  their friends would react if they their behavior. They can afford to because most of the time they don’t need to worry about whether or not they’ll win. Hawkeye, fresh out of the hospital, is going to use every  advantage he can find to get out of a jam alive, regardless of how other people might feel about his methods, and he’ll sleep fine that night.  If he can do it being the upstanding citizen and card-carrying Avenger,  he will. If he has to threaten violence that would make a circus freak cringe, he’ll do that too.

Avengers vs X-Men 9 (Aaron/ Kubert) continues the Marvel mega event that pits the Avengers  against the Phoenix force inhabiting a small number of X-Men. They say  there are no new stories, and this series has been reaffirming that so  far - SPOILER ALERT: it turns out power corrupts.

This chapter of the  story features Spider-Man being the only person in the room with a grasp of what power is and how to use it, something in short supply no matter what continuity you follow. While the basic story is nothing new, the details are very pretty. Andy Kubert delivers every moment with his usual intensity, and Jason Aaron  brings some much needed subtlety to an otherwise brutish slugfest.

iZombie 28 (Roberson/ Allred) is the end of the series, so those that want to read it all in one go have their chance now. It’s the end of the world, and  everyone faces it the way they want to face the end of the world. Oddly  enough, every person has their own reaction when faced with global  annihilation.

The series ends on a touching, positive note, in about the best way anyone could handle loss. iZombie tells us it cannot stay here, and we can’t follow it to wherever it’s  going, but it had a great time and would like us to have fun without it.

First X-Men 1 (Adams/ Gage)... So, you know how fun Wolverine and the X-Men is right now? With Logan protecting children, throwing money around, and turning enemies into friends? Now imagine if someone took all those elements, tossed the fun away,  and claimed the idea was their own retroactively by setting it in what  appears to be the 1970’s. That’s about what this is.

Mr. Adams, your contribution to the medium of comics is incredible. One of the signature voices in the Silver Age, you brought new life to Batman, Deadman, and The Brave and the Bold, just to name a few. You were one of the few artists to successfully  work at both Marvel and DC at the same time, and played a significant  role promoting creator rights in an industry that had steadfastly  resisted them. No one could ask any more of you, and if this is the kind of work you’re making nowadays, no one WILL ask any more of you.

Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe 1 (Bunn/ Talajic) is blatant false advertising! Twenty-two pages and I only saw eleven corpses, and I... wait... limited series? Several more issues to go? Okay, yeah, Deadpool might just pull it off.

Deadpool’s insanity finally ticks off enough people that they check him into an asylum. Little do they know the asylum is really a  brainwashing/ recruiting facility, and Deadpool fits their criteria  perfectly. As most of you are surely aware, Deadpool’s not the type to  react predictably to things, and the treatments instead remove the only  parts of his mind that could be called sane. All that remains is an  engine of death modified for maximum efficiency.
There are a few elements that take classic Deadpool tropes and compare  them to other things we know about the Marvel universe, drawing some  parallels I haven’t seen before. They’re kind of impressive. The art is a blend of cartoonish and gruesome that works here, but I don’t know that it’d work many other places. This is worth picking up.

Think Tank 1 (Hawkins/ Ekedal) follows Dr. David Loren, an amalgam of Tony Stark and Alex Skarsgard, as he tries to invent himself a conscience. Albert  Einstein stopped brainstorming weapons after the atomic bomb dropped,  appalled at the destruction he’d helped create. In response, the  government thanked him for his service and let him go. In this series,  the government “learned from its mistake” and by the present era presses the country’s best minds into friendly servitude. If you produce  results and don’t make a fuss, everything’s fine, but slack in either  respect and things get rougher.

There are  some things everyone should be aware of before going in. First, this is a black & white comic. The art is strong and I caught myself studying the linework, but if you’re addicted to full-color, this won’t give you your fix. Second, while the book is full of brilliant and respectable  people, I didn’t find myself liking any of them. I’m not saying every  story needs to focus on a likable figure, but if there’s no one around  that’s endearing, it brings the story down. A few plot bumps aside, this is a fun update of the premise behind Real Genius. It doesn’t go far beyond that, but it could. I’d give it a look.

Avenging Spider-Man 10 (DeConnick/ Dodson/ Dodson) made me do a double take. At first I  thought “Wait, they undid Spider-Man’s marriage, so how is Mary Jane on  the cover and back to squeezing the life out of him?” Then my manager  took me into the back and made me watch a video on why such comments are considered unacceptable in the workplace. You see, it’s not Mary Jane  on the cover, it’s just a teenage girl that a corporation believes is  their property, which is fine. (CC Note: Ryan, we’re going to have to schedule another appointment...)

I am leaving out details like a bioengineering program, trust and  boundary issues in relationships, and the definition of sentience. This  issue plays with such issues more than the art would imply. From the  panels (which the Dodsons make shine brightly), this is a pretty  straightforward beat-em-up leading to a misunderstanding and from there  to a slightly different round of beat-em-up. The dialogue adds more  depth than you may be used to from a Spider-Man book - it’s good depth,  but it may be above younger heads.

As a jaded internet personality, I have to wonder what it is with Spider-Man attracting coppertop jailbait these days. I was all ready to come in and let them have it over this,  but then they ruined my plans by making a touching story about  connecting with others in ways you don’t expect. So I can’t hate on it.  Those jerks.

Thief of Thieves 7 (Kirkman/ Spencer/ Martinbrough) wraps up the first arc of the series  with a lot of resolution. This arc felt a lot like the pilot episode to a tv show, something that gives you a complete story that defines the  series, and hints that there’s much more to do. Essentially, it takes  the thief wanting to retire, and rather than try to bag one last score  either for the money or pride, he’s pulled in for personal, (mostly)  selfless reasons. And the cost of doing one last job is high.     Fans of shows like Leverage should be picking this up.

There’s not as much campy interplay, but there’s a  similar sense of honor among thieves and games-mastery that flows well.  This is the last issue where Nick Spencer is in charge of the script,  and while he leaves on a high enough note, no preview of the next issue  gives me pause. If you haven’t been picking this title up already, I’d  say wait for the trade and read it all in one go, then decide if future  issues are for you.

Alright, even I’m tired of reading myself think at this point. See you next week!

July 26th, 2012

Comic Carnival family, the past week has provided a great deal for us to deal with. This past Friday morning, a group of people that went out of  their way to watch a movie as soon as possible became victims of atrocious violence. We don’t know why, and honestly I can’t think  there’s a reason anyone could give that would satisfy us. These were our peers that were hurt or worse, and our hearts go out to them and their  loved ones. Some of you may have been anticipating Batman Incorporated 3 (Morrison/ Burnham) on the shelf this week. If you could pick it up, you’d be treated to an almost psychedelic combination of plots focusing  on “Matches” Malone gathering intel and nearly getting the crap beaten out of him by Batman, which (if you know the character) would be an  amazing feat. This would be the latest chapter in a story where Damian, son of Bruce Wayne, is targeted for death by Talia al Ghul, Damian’s  mother, presumably because time-outs or withholding desserts are cliche parenting these days.

But you will not find this issue on any shelf. In the wake of the events in Aurora, Colorado, DC Comics has pulled the issue. Not all DC Comics are being  pulled, not even all Batman titles, just this one. As near as I can tell, the reasoning behind this  decision is that there are two panels on the first page where someone draws a gun on a crowd. The location, time of day, and context are completely different, yet this is the only correlation that might  explain DC’s reaction. I would not presume to say whether this is a  gesture of sympathy or an overreaction, but it means there is one less  comic on the market this week.

In contrast, I present Amazing Spider-Man 690 (Slott/ Camuncoli). It also has a controversial image on its first page - well, second if you count the recap page, but who does that?


Let me set up the scene: Curt Connors is gone. His human form has been restored and everyone involved feels very accomplished, but the Lizard is running the show. The Lizard is working to find a cure for his own humanity, but is only succeeding in regrowing his missing arm. With every “failure”, the Lizard needs to cut off the regrown limb so he can move about the complex without suspicion and continue his research. On the first pages of story, the audience is treated to watching a human being sear off his own arm, plotting mayhem as it falls to the ground, picking it up and feeding to an experimental creature that used to be a brilliant scientist. But that’s not the controversy to me.    

The rest of the issue plays with the idea of addiction a lot. Morbius gets cravings under stress, Connors rediscovers the concept of guilty pleasures (that don’t always hurt or maim people), and Spider-Man is hooked on self-destruction. In all seriousness, between a vampire and a growing army of mentally unbalanced mutations, Spider-Man seems to hate himself more than his enemies ever could. But this is not the  controversy I speak of. This is:

The very  first time Connors chops his arm off, the hand is flipping the reader off. THAT is something I’m shocked got passed Editorial.

Debris 1 (Wiebe/ Rossmo) is an entirely new creature. It’s not a far-flung sequel, it’s not a spin-off, and as far as I can tell it’s not a reinterpretation of anything. For this reason, I feel protective of it - new intellectual properties are so rare that I feel they need to be  cared for in a secure environment so that more can be bred, like pandas.    

Machine life has choked the planet (could be Earth, could be something  else) so tightly that there is perhaps one human colony left, with everyone toiling endlessly to produce food and water in sufficient quantities. Everyone has their own jobs, and Maya is a Protector, an elite warrior that scouts for and dissuades the machines from hurting the colony, either by slaying them or leading them away. The Protectors are losing ground. A desperate plan to find a potential cache of resources is hatched, and Maya alone can be spared to find it. Her objective is probably a myth, but that’s okay - things are so dire that even if she found it, the colony could easily be dead before she returns.    

In a lot of ways, this is a standard post-apocalypse drama. Humans are so far below the top of the food chain they can’t even see it, and Hope survives but only barely. Debris does a good job of giving each element, though typical, it’s own distinct  taste. Maya has the energy and drive of youth, but has learned early and hard enough to know her priorities; the colony is strained, but there’s trust and transparency enough that no one thinks the effort is going to waste; the machines have a shadow of life, but instead of mimicking it  the machines seem genuinely cursed with it.


The writing is intriguing, even if the dialogue is a bit stiff. The art communicates both desolation and beauty well, and at the same time, but there are a few moments that don't connect as well as they should have. Overall, this is a good first issue of a good sci-fi comic book, and I really would like to see it live up to its potential.

Due to peer pressure, I picked up Aquaman 11 (Johns/ Reis). I’m a member of the camp that can’t take Aquaman  seriously. I think he should be canned and stocked next to tuna, labeled as “Superman of the Sea”, and be done with it. However, Johns and Reis are a creative team that’ve done some impressive work before, which raised my hopes.



I’m a mythology nut. Stories centuries old about lands loved and lost intrigue me. This plays to that chord a lot, with a retelling of the origin and fall of Atlantis. And like with many myths, there are inconsistencies, but where the most classic myths have minor ones, in this single issue there are multiple, major about-faces that lost me.  There were a lot of people I didn’t know in this issue, and the good news is that by the end I felt I knew as much of them as I did the more familiar characters; the bad news is that I didn’t come away knowing anyone.            

If you’re already reading this, this is not going to be a  pleasant issue. If you’re looking to jump into the title, don’t.

Goon 40 (Eric Powell) is Talladega Nights meets The Untouchables. Since the Goon has committed every crime ever, it’s only natural that he also deals with running moonshine during prohibition. And since  nothing the Goon does can ever be simple or direct, this book takes a few, shall we say, liberties with the historical record.


The main story alone is out there enough to be funny - the Goon and a rival family compete for territory in progressively wilder competitions - but it’s the details that resonate. For example, at one point, a Charleston dance-off becomes so erotic, demonic forces arrive to break it up.  Reread that last sentence, I guarantee the full weight of it hasn’t hit you yet.

This is one of those titles that not everyone loves, but everyone appreciates. It’s got humor, action, cheesecake, and enough sense to know when each of them will work. I laughed at it so much that I had to share it with someone, so I just gave it to a coworker that’s over 60 years old and a war veteran. He’s cracking up too. This is 50cc of silly, and this is a good time for it.

And I leave you there, with options aplenty to give you something great to read this week. Enjoy!