THE RUNDOWN: Still. Old. Friend.

1.
Today, I was working for a bit at my preferred local hangout for such things and one of the regular customers wanted to talk to me about Archie getting married.. I had to explain it in simple terms: “possible future” and “imaginary story” and the like, but what I really wanted to say was “This is going to be like The Dark Knight Returns for Archie, a possible future where he’s loved and lost and eventually wears bulky armor and fights Jughead in the streets.”

2.
Marvel Divas #1 is very good. Aguirre-Sacasa’s got a light touch that fits better with these characters than it did on the ill-fated (if occasionally interesting) Marvel Knights 4 series, and the clean interior art from Tonci Zonjic reminds me of Stuart Immonen’s super-refined Nextwave style while still having a lot of its own personality. While I’m familiar with the four characters here (Firestar, Captain Marvel (the good one – yes, I said it and I won’t take it back), Hellcat, and the Black Cat,) the story doesn’t rely on knowing their backstories or anything about them, really: they’re just four superhero-ish chicks that have lives outside of the spandex.

A goddamn shame about that J. Scott Campbell cheesecake cover, even if I know exactly why they did it. Maybe it would have been better as a sigh…variant for the type of people that like that sort of thing and actually having an image that reflected the type of comic it is to help sell it to the non-indoctrinated who might pick it up out of curiosity? Shit, I’d have made Jamie McKelvie do the covers, but he owes me $9 and I’d do anything to get that money back.

Please note that McKelvie does not actually owe me $9.

3.
Outside of some very-last-panel confusion that someone brought up in a chat earlier – I honestly misread the location that panel was taking place in, making me rethink what actually occured – Batman And Robin #2 is pretty terrific. I do like that Morrison trusts the readers to keep up (as I’ve said a million times) but a caption here and there never hurt anyone, except for Chris Claremont who was fatally wounded in a Orzechowski-related shooting in 1991. Setting aside this quibble (which would have gone unnoticed until my confusion at the beginning of the third issue) my only question is: will we see the new Quad-Bat vehicle mudding?

4.
Agents of Atlas is my favorite Marvel comic right now. This issue is a perfect example of why: it’s smart but not smarmy, witty but not over-the-top, and it’s got a lot of heart. I genuinely care about a character called Gorilla-Man and wonder at what’s going on in a giant robot’s mind in my idle hours. (Seriously, the other day I was just thinking about how rad M-11 is, then I got told that my hour was up and that the receptionist would need to see my insurance card to make sure the psychiatric visit was covered by my co-pay.)

Also there’s a dragon, and I fucking hate shit with dragons most of the time. (Other notable exception: Fing Fang Foom.)

5.
The Boys. I may switch to trades on it. I enjoy it and all, but it seems that the per-issue dose has been getting a bit lean versus just getting to wallow in the story when the reasonably-priced collection hits the stands.

6.
I completely forgot to mention that The Daily Batman has been celebrating the contents of the exemplary The Black Casebook collection. (Except it’s curiously missing the story where the GCPD trains backup Batmans. That needs to be exhumed.)

THE RUNDOWN: I have no idea what to put for a subhead.

1.
The new Detective Comics by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III is more than just a very pretty object: it’s a tightly-written, exciting superhero book that takes place during a linewide event that manages to be new-reader-friendly without counterintuitive information dumps or placing much of an emphasis on the event itself. All you really need to know is that there’s a new Batman and Batwoman is now operating in the town and even the incusion of the Crime Bible and its worshippers is handled in a way that shifts something from being laughably over-the-top to a credible threat that has just a touch of comic book madness about it. Williams’s work is as stunning as ever, with plenty of page layouts that make even jaded readers like me gawk a bit. The coloring from Dave Stewart helps Williams greatly, as the art shifts from a more painterly style in the Batwoman sequences to fairly-straightforward (if immaculately rendered) comics art for non-costumed scenes. While it’s obvious that this is a temporary status quo, there’s enough to get me to pick up at least one more issue of this before just saying “screw it” and waiting for the trade.

2.
I stopped reading Runaways when Brian K Vaughan left the title, but when Kathryn Immonen was announced as the writer picking up the reins after Terry Moore, I jumped right back on board. Her effusive dialogue and breathless plotting hooked me when she got her hands on Patsy Walker and while her first issue in this series doesn’t quite get off the launchpad as quickly as the others, the different approach taken suits the soap operatics that this title has had since its inception. Sara Pichelli’s work is downright gorgeous, telling the story well and even if I have some quibbles with the sameness of some of the facial features (the noses all have that ski-jump look,) the naturally body language sells scenes wonderfully. Christina Strain’s colors maintain a thematic connection to the earlier inception of the work, even as it complements the current team nicely. Very good superhero comics, and if Marvel would put the first digest back into print, something that could sell to more than the usual Wednesday crowd.

3.
I’ve only read the first half of Empowered’s fifth volume, but god, Adam Warren is a damn demon, isn’t he?

4.
Awesome 2 is, much like the original Indie Spinner Rack anthology, pretty essential if you like comics as a medium more than as a delivery device for your genre of choice. Jim Rugg, Raina Telgemiere, Jeff Lemire, Pat Lewis, Alex Robinson, Jon Adams, and a boatload of other creators worth paying attention to contribute, and unlike most anthologies like this, it actually feels like there was an editor present.

THE RUNDOWN: Sponsored By The Metatime Council And Mickey Eye

1.
Grant Morrison had two DC comics today that couldn’t be further apart in tone even as they both bear the hallmarks of Morrison’s approach to the superhero meme, expanding upon the metacommentary he’s slipped into various comics over the last two decades. Batman and Robin’s debut and the final issue of Seaguy: The Slaves Of Mickey Eye invoke common themes of DC’s superhero comics without any of the pastiche that marks the usual superhero comic book treatment of such material. As much as I enjoy comics like the original Squadron Supreme and Astro City, I really appreciate it when people use the past as a springboard to something new, and Morrison does that in style with Batman and Robin.

While Morrison’s run on the mainline Batman title let him indulge in some good old-fashioned silver age fetishism, this tite’s mandate seems to be “You know the basics, what can we do now?’ Batman and Robin #1 is extremely new-reader friendly (throwaway lines explain pretty much everything to a neophyte,) but the way that Morrison plays with the myth of Bruce Wayne’s Batman and what that means to Gotham is very satisfying in this meaty-yet-fast-paced first installment. Special note, of course, should be made to Frank Quitely’s art. It’s very rare that Morrison’s collaborators are able to keep up with him, but Quitely manages to kill in each and every panel, just as he did in his rightly-lauded Flex Mentallo and All-Star Superman.

Just as Batman and Robin manages to do something new with a 70+ year-old icon, Seaguy’s second adventure’s climax features our hero teaming up with others of his ilk, a quest for true love, an imaginary friend, and a villain who gets his comeuppance because that’s what happens to bad guys. Taken on their own, these events aren’t anything significant, but the way that Morrison layers them one on top of the other, letting the reader absorb them as matter-of-fact moments in the narrative, is close to masterful. Cameron Stewart is the perfect artist for this sort of project, able to be just cartoonish enough to sell you on Seaguy’s technicolor world but with a solid hold on anatomy and keen storytelling abilities. I’d love to see a collection of his concept work for the two Seaguy stories so far; while Morrison’s imagination is clearly at work, it Stewart’s ability to sell the ridiculous and sublime that makes me appreciate the title that much more.

2.
I read a comic with Buffy in the title, but it had nothing to do with Joss Whedon’s world (outside of one reference to a stalker) and everything to do with Becky Cloonan’s uncannily easy scripting and Vasilis Lolos’s art. This story of teenage boredom and vampires would fit very nicely alongside any of Becky Cloonan’s minicomics, where it’s apparent that she’s had a solid grasp of dialogue and storytelling that has gone underappreciated, particularly in lieu of her high-profile creative partnerships with writers like Brian Wood. Maybe this, alongside the forthcoming Pixu will get more exposure for her writing talents. (If you’re at MoCCA, you should see if she has her Minis book in stock. It’s a solid collection of her very early work that I found surprisingly good.)

3.
I have bought three comics by Jeff Parker in the last two weeks. It’s just my way of repaying him for his pinup in The Rack: Year One (Mostly). It doesn’t hurt that they’re all really readable, particularly Agents Of Atlas, which I feel like I should write more about sometime. It’s a dense comic with some pretty inventive writing in unusual places.

4.
Oh, oh, oh, I remember. I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed Warren Ellis’s Bastard Cop With A Jetpack in Ignition City. There’s a very casually-used bit in there about how he uses people’s first names when speaking to them, a cheap salesmen/law enforcement trick that I pick up on every time it’s used against me and hate. I love that it went unnoted by other characters, but if you were there, it would have rankled something fierce.

5.
That’s kinda it. I’ve not even opened my copy of Side B or that DC Comics Classics Library: Roots Of The Swamp Thing collection that Danny Levitz was going on about in last week’s picks. In fact, outside of Design Fetish and the usual self-promotion hijinks, this blog’s going to be pretty silent until Tuesday. I’m sure you’ll appreciate the rest, really.

THE RUNDOWN: Is this a riot or are you just pleased to see me?

1.
Superman: New Krypton Volume 1 features over-the-top, too-florid scripting from James Robinson that calls more attention to him than the stories he’s crafting here, and while I can almost buy into Jimmy Olsen verbally masturbating in his quest to become a writer, but Vigilante saying “History is often but a patina of real come the light of tomorrow” while The Guardian¹ ponders “the glint of [Olsen's] red hair in the morning’s glow” is a bit too close to the purplest of slash fiction prose for my tastes. Johns’s work in this volume continues his very readable take on the DC icon, and while I’m fairly unsure that I need to read about 100,000 Kryptonians who’ve moved to Earth, the setup is interesting enough to keep me going for at least one more volume.

2.
I’m very fond of Fred Chao, so I can’t be remotely fair about the new Johnny Hiro collection. A paean to love, New York City, food, giant monsters, Japanese cinema, hip-ho, and living with cats (among other things), the titular character’s trials and travails are sort of a pitch-perfect example of how to do this sort of thing. One of the reasons I think this comic works for me is that it embraces a lot of things that mean more to me than the Scott Pilgrim NES culture (even if I like Scott and the gang, I was never quite as enamored with River City Ransom as O’Malley was) and I can identify with Johnny and Mayumi. He’s the decent guy who can’t quite make things work like he wants, she’s the just-sweet-enough counterpart who has her own trials and travails, and the surreal misadventures they have just feel like they belong. Get the collection, seriously. You won’t regret it.

3.
I figured out why I enjoy Marvel Adventures: The Avengers so much today: it captures a lot of what I liked about the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League era without mimicking it exactly. The latest issue (no I don’t have it handy, nor do I memorize issue numbers) starts off with the gang at a flea market, just hanging out, before Tigra makes an unfortunate purchasing decision that leads to the whole plot of the piece that involves a genie, three wishes, and Wolverine eating a lot of sausage. As much as I enjoy (and advocate) the pure action mode of superheroics, I find a great deal of joy in moments where the team, be they the Avengers or the Justice League or even the Doom Patrol, are just hanging out, being folk, and Tobin ( as much as Parker, who kicked off the kid-friendly Avengers book) has the perfect ear for dialogue and a way of making those pages never feel wasted. Special note should be taken of Matteo Lolli here. His just-cartoonish-enough art really helps this story move along, and his layouts were both inventive and easy to follow.

4.
If you’ve not read the new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic, then you have no excuse, really. Go, grab a nice length of rope, a milkcrate, and find an exposed beam. Surely you can do the math after that.

(Two word review: intimidatingly fantastic.)

5.
The first issue of Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance was exactly what I wanted: pop-savvy, bright, and with just the right amount of metacommentary without going too far into territory covered by The Authority and the like.

¹And don’t get me started on revisiting the “original” Guardian and Cadmus, because I thought Morrison’s take was inventive and had potential while apparently somebody really, really likes masturbating over Jack Kirby’s corpse versus playing with new toys.

THE RUNDOWN: You Have 20 Seconds To Comply

We’re going micro this week!

1.
Lockjaw And The Pet Avengers #1 – Should have been a $10 digest off the bat.

2.
Castle Waiting #15 – I love that Linda Medley is completely ignoring what makes her setting so interesting for the D&D set and focusing on the characters.

3.
Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos – Not read it yet, but you’d have to work hard to fuck up a story featuring World War II, Nick Fury, dead Nazis, art by John Paul Leon, and lettering by John Workman.

4.
Jack Staff #20 – Honestly, I still don’t believe I read an issue of Jack Staff a couple days ago. It was like a dream. A beautiful, wonderful dream.

5.
Young Liars #15 – I think I missed an issue, but how do you tell with this thing? A comic I enjoy despite its efforts to make me frustrated.

6.
Spider-Man J: Japanese Daze – They need to number these volumes, which I may stop reading if I don’t get a Japanese J Jonah Jameson soon, dammit.

7.
I’ve not gotten my hands on the new League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen yet. Yes, I know. Diamond is to blame this time around.

THE RUNDOWN: I should totally create a fake ad for a home Continuitology course.

1.
Seaguy: Slaves Of Mickey Eye #2 featured more of exactly what I like about the Seaguy universe: straight-faced surrealism that celebrates the superhero. I’ve heard people complain about the opacity of this work, but I figure they’re overthinking the whole thing. While symbolism is rife and Morrison’s scratching his usual meta-fiction itch, the story and events are presented in an extremely straightforward manner. Cameron Stewart’s art is, as usual, too good for mere words. I’ll just gesticulate for a while instead, making cooing sounds.

2.
One of the main reasons I love reading Jeff Parker’s Agents Of Atlas month to month is how it is that rarest of things: the single issue that feels like a proper dose of story. Combined with Parker’s whip-smart dialogue and way it effectively makes use of the Marvel Universe’s history without requiring a degree in Continuitology, this is easily my favorite ongoing Marvel title of the moment.

3.
I really did enjoy Fing Fang 4 Return, but that’s a comic that you were either already looking forward to or that you shoved aside in your haste to pick up whatever Marvel’s telling you is important this week, so there’s not much to add. It’s great that Langridge is getting so much well-deserved attention lately.

4.
The scene in which burglars are exiting police headquarters carrying the Batsignal is not the stupidest moment in the latest DC Comics Classics Library installment, The Batman Annuals, but it may be the funniest. I understand the rending of cloth that has accompanied the $40 price point on these, but if you’re paying that much you’re not much of a shopper, are you?

THE RUNDOWN: Very Brief Notes On A Few Things I’ve Read

I am going to try to do these more often because I’ve totally sucked on the talking-about-shit-I’ve-read front.

1.
I bought the the first installment of the mangafied, not-your-Father’s-Wolverine book published by Del Rey, Prodigal Son, for a bit of a laugh but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise that was well-paced and engaging. Anthony Johnston’s script doesn’t break any new storytelling ground, but it hits every beat it’s supposed to just so while Wilson Tortosa’s art manages to capture fight scenes and talking head sequences equally well. I could quibble about too many speed lines, but I think that’d be me missing the point more than usual.

2.
Batman: Joker’s Asylum is just about worth the $10 it costs on Amazon. Every story is a little slice of Gotham City psychopathy, with Jason Aaron’s magnificently cruel Penguin story featuring pitch-perfect art by Jason Pearson, Andy Clarke’s art in the Two Face piece and Arvid Nelson’s tight little script for the Joker making up for missteps like the bland-as-hell Poison Ivy feature. I was also glad to see Juan Doe do some DC work and would not mind seeing a lot more.

3.
I’ve been reading A Drifting Life slowly over the past two weeks and it’s well worth savoring. I fell in love with Tatsumi’s work with Drawn and Quarterly’s reprint of The Push Man And Other Stories and am starting to think of him in the same terms as I do guys like Kurosawa and Kirby. His ability to dissect the mundane and pull back the veil of normality to show life’s underbelly has made me pause more than a once.

4.
Speaking of life, Paul Pope’s 100% is so full of it that I really didn’t want it to end. This series of interrelated stories is vividly realized and serves as a treatise on why the man is so revered with its sci-fi backdrop and organically-written characters that may be eclectic but never feel created. I’m normally fine with creators moving on from their works, but if Pope ever wanted to revisit his future New York, I wouldn’t complain.

5.
Oh, and it’s a couple of weeks old, but Birdie did a bangup review of the final issue of 100 Bullets that says everything I would have if I’d ever bothered to write more than just a couple of reviews for CBR, but all smart and stuff.