Comic Reviews

This week: a lot of praising with faint damnation.

Inhumans vs. X-Men #6

Without wishing to spoil, this was a perfectly fitting end to this era of the X-Men: loud, action packed and dull. To call the final solution a literal plot device is to be generous. I mean, the whole “Endangered Species AGAIN” angle was never a winner and I'm all in favour of it ending but it really did boil down in the end to the characters flipping a switch to shut down a storyline that never worked.

There are a few consequences, of course, and the usual teases but at the end of the day I'm interested in seeing what happens with the X-Men next now they aren't shackled to the crappy status quo of the last couple of years and my interest in the Inhumans has not increased one iota.

Detective Comics #952

League of Shadows part two: The Five Fingers of Death

The core Bat-titles just don't disappoint these days. After last issue introduced Lady Shiva as the ultimate killing machine she always deserved to be, this issue we get to see her in action and get an answer to one of those “Is that thing I remember still canon?” questions that was just going to hover over the arc until it got addressed.

Most of the issue is fight scene, firstly polishing off last issue's cliffhanger and then moving into the big confrontation with Shiva. There's definitely a growing emphasis this arc on Orphan, which I for one wholeheartedly approve of. The more action Cass gets in this series the happier I am, especially now that Steph is off the board for the time being.

Christian Duce slots in to art duties this issue with a much more rounded and fluid style than the series has had up until now. I personally like it, it gives a lot of grace to Shiva's movements but I imagine the transition between styles in the collected edition is going to be downright painful to some.

Mother Panic #4

Broken Things part 1

Am I just being an old man about these Young Animals series?

Mother Panic is definitely my favourite of the Young Animals imprint, mostly because it gets to the point. Now, there are a lot of mysteries set up surrounding what happened to Violet Page as a child and how it affects her, both physically and emotionally, as an adult but the whole plot isn't drowning in obscurity. Take her headquarters: after the dreamlike introduction of the first arc we're presented with it now in more concrete terms. There's also Violet herself, who we get to see another side to as she's interviewed on a late night talk show, peeling back another couple of layers.

This series isn't just oddity for oddity's sake, which has seemed a bit of a problem for Doom Patrol and Shade The Changing Girl.

But is this just because its familiar? The art style and even the way the credits are arranged on the page have a very 1990s feel. Don't get me wrong, in every aspect of writing and production this is definitely superior to the comics I grew up with but I can't deny there's a certain comfort zone feeling to reading this series.

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #5

I love the different flavour this series brings to Marvel's version of Star Wars. Okay, its a continuation of what was going on in Gillen's Darth Vader series but now Aphra is completely cut off from important canon characters who have to develop a certain way there's a lot more scope to explore the dirty side of the universe. Plus, Rogue One has come out now so the idea of Aphra isn't a million miles removed from the sort of characters we saw there.

I admit, I'm not that fussed about her relationship with her dad. It might be the whole hook of this first arc but I'm more interested in seeing which way Aphra and her band of merry bastards will jump in any given situation, especially the droids. Just imagining Triple Zero's dialogue in C-3PO's voice is a perverse pleasure all its own.

Jessica Jones #6

Well, someone's getting good at structure again. This has been a well-paced six issue arc, a nice little mystery with a satisfying conclusion that hasn't tried my patience at all. Issue 1 was big on in medias res and laying out a bunch of different plots that pretty much all came together here for a big finale. There's a bunch of other stuff to tie up, not least the status of Jessica's marriage, but those plots haven't been left to fester, they've all seen positive growth on an issue by issue basis.

Maybe its because this series and this character are Bendis' own baby that he pulls out the stops for it and avoids the kind of roadblocking filler that sometimes makes his ongoings a chore to read but it absolutely works and I hope this runs a damn long time. 

Comic Reviews

Just a few quick thoughts this week as I'm packing for a trip this weekend.

Detective Comics #948

Maguerite Bennett joins James Tynion IV to set up her Batwoman ongoing. I was a bit worried that this would be another divergence from the series' ongoing concerns like the Night Of The Monster Men crossover. Frankly, I want to get to the bit where Tim Drake makes his dramatic return. And, well, this is a sequel to Night Of The Monster Men but I'm always up for a bit of Marguerite Bennett, even if the interviews she gave about her Batwoman series make me feel old because she says a character I think of as “new” was a great inspiration to her in high school.

Still, this storyline feels a lot more relevant than Monster Men did. Given this is half an origin story for Kate her father gets a lot of time in the spotlight, both in flashback and in his cell. The origin stuff concentrates on Kate's first days as Batwoman rather than her being cashiered from the army, which is good because we have that story already.

I do hope ARGUS post-human bioweaponry expert Dr. Victoria October is going to end up a regular somewhere. She drops a mention she's known Batman for a while so hopefully there's some history planned out for her.

Plus, the art is spectacular. Is Ben Oliver doing the art on Batwoman? I hope so, the art here has a fantastic painted look to it that really suits the character. He likes big panels and expressive close-ups on his characters.

Daredevil #15

Fifteen issues in and I'm still not sure about this incarnation of the series. I don't hate the return of the secret identity or the prosecutor angle, I don't dislike Blindspot as a sidekick, it just isn't clicking.

Still, this issue sort of took a break from the major themes of the series. Blindspot and his new status quo gets a little time but by and large the plot of this one is a scheme by Matt Murdoch to take a contract out on himself to lure out some assassins for... well, that's not quite clear yet. The tone is more whimsical than this series has been, rather more like the pre-Secret Wars version and that I very much liked.

Honestly, though, this series is living on borrowed time with me but I guess I'll see out this storyline.

Jessica Jones #4

This series, though, I am convinced by as things are finally coming together. Not only is this series making something of what I assumed to be the most pointless part of Civil War II but Bendis is getting around to explaining what the hell is going on with Jessica and Luke Cage after only four issues. For Bendis this is commendably fast.

Also, Bendis writes the hell out of Misty Knight and Luke Cage. I do so love Misty Knight and Bendis writes her as Luke's voice of reason here, down to Earth and sensible. She has a very poor opinion of Jessica, which is not surprising in the circumstances and not entirely unjustified even now we have an explanation.

There's also one of those Bendis police precinct scenes full of all the usual madness but also featuring a new detective character who promises to actually be interesting. Given how Jessica has become more of a mainstream superhero over the last decade, I think this character has the potential to be the outsider looking in on the world that the series needs. Frankly, Jessica who has been an Avenger doesn't have that anymore but this detective seems to have experience with the superhero world, just enough to fulfil that old role.