Reviews

Best of DC: Week of February 26th, 2020

Best of this Week: Batman: Curse of the White Knight Book Seven – Sean Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth and AndWorld Design

Batman is Dead.

The last issue of Curse of the White Knight gave us the last in the story of Edmond Wayne and revealed that the man that Bruce thought was his ancestor, turned out to have been the family to Jean-Paul Valley instead. Bakkar of the Order of St. Dumas killed Edmond after betraying and stealing Gotham from under him, thus assuming the name of Wayne and forming the city to his vision. With this newfound information, Batman has found himself a man with a lineage of thievery, especially after finding out that Gotham’s Elite have been funding their crime through Wayne Enterprises.

This issue begins with a somber flashback to a moment before the funeral of the Waynes. Bruce cries and blames himself for their deaths because he wanted to see The Mask of Zorro. He had always wanted to use the rapiers that his father kept on display and figured if he learned to use them from the movie, then he would be able to impress his father enough. Alfred, always so caring, tells him that if he’s able to go to the funeral, then he can hold a rapier. He then vows to teach young Bruce how to use it for the next danger he may face.

Matt Hollingsworth colors this flashback in a cool blue hue, emphasizing both the sadness and the hopefulness of the moment. Murphy portrays Alfred as being caring and shows that even with the tears, Bruce shows his ability to rise up and become the hero that people need. Though the rapier is far too large for his kid body, Bruce holds it firm in hopes of protecting Gotham in the future.

As we cut back to the modern day, Bruce faith in himself and his dreams of becoming Gotham’s knight are shaken. He was never a Wayne by blood and he sees himself as part of Gotham’s cuse. Many would be right to see him as such given Gotham’s crime initially started off as petty stuff and eventually escalated into battles with The Joker, Two-Face and others with Gotham being caught in the crossfire every time. He didn’t even know that his company was being used by criminals because of his singular focus on fighting crime.

Murphy draws Batman as being tired and ashamed of himself for only just now understanding Jack Napier’s vision and why Batman is just as bad for Gotham as The Joker was. His expressions are melancholic, Murphy makes excellent use of shadow to try to hide some of his shame and body language to make him look like an old man that’s been sitting on a lawn chair for eighty hard years. Harleen Quinzel acts as his voice of reason during his pity party and actually shows concern for him.

Hareen has been a central character in this world since the very first issue of the original White Knight and that doesn’t change here though her own personal arc is over. The last issue saw her do her best to bring Jack Napier out of Joker’s mind for one last time for information and to save her children. In the end, she had to shoot Joker in the head to let Jack rest and rid herself of the monster that had been plaguing her for years. She still finds herself at Batman’s side as one of his most trusted friends.

Bruce still has one thing that he can do to make sure that Jean-Paul doesn’t get away with his crimes and Harley convinces him that Gotham will forgive his transgressions like they did for the former Joker in Napier. At the same time, Azrael is still out there and Murphy and Hollingsworth give readers an AMAZING shot of the villain in his updated Knightfall costume. He grabs onto the nds of his cape s he soars backwards into his hideout. The lights of the city contrast with his blacks, yellows and blues to just give us a pretty damn good shot of how powerful he feels in the suit.

This is contrasted by the next few set of panels where he’s puking out of his mask after escaping from the GTO (Gotham Task Oppression Unit). This version of Azrael has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and as such needs medicine to live and suppress the symptoms. With little dialogue and some telling panels, we see that Azrael has empty bottle after empty bottle of pills in his cabinet. He’s starting to look a bit more gaunt than the first time we saw him. He’s withering away slowly and only has one more pill to spar for his coming battle with Batman.

I love the details that Murphy and Hollingworth add here. There’s blood in his vomit and it maintains after he pukes on his leg. His ribs are starting to show and we’ve seen just how jacked he was in the issues prior. His hair doesn’t appear as long as it did, even pulled into a bun/ponytail and there’s just something so final about the “shit” he gives after finding out that he only has one more pill left. In that singular moment, his mistakes come back to haunt him after killing his, admittedly, treacherous employer.

Soon after, Bruce makes amends to Barbara Gordon after inadvertently causing the accident that almost saw her completely lose use of her legs and effectively getting her dad killed. Barbara has always been resilient and we all feared that that issue #5 would be yet another Killing Joke, but here she is, using crutches to try walking again. The scene takes place during the bright Gotham day and this signals a brighter future for their relationship.

Bruce had always gone to Jim Gordon for advice on what route he should take, but without him, Bruce is missing one of his moral compasses. Barbara is the next best person because she has always been smarter than her father and Bruce has a ton of guilt to get off of his chest and Barbara handles everything like the mature adult that she is. She doesn’t blame Bruce for what happened, even though she said horrid things in anger, but can anyone blame her? She cries at the mention of her father and embraces Bruce, encouraging whatever his decision may be.

Of course, with this being the penultimate issue in this particular storyline, it only makes sense that we see a grand revelation come out of it. Murphy and Hollingsworth set the stage with Hollingsworth coloring the afternoon skies of Gotham with an orange-red kind of hue. We see various shots of different places in Gotham from public libraries to the streets themselves as Batman appears on the giant monitor of Gotham Square. Everything feels hot and sort of uncomfortable.

Bruce gives his appreciation and thanks to the people of Gotham for allowing him to serve as their protector and we continue to get these various shots of people. There’s auto mechanics watching the broadcast in their shop, people in a bar and kids watching on a cell phone with their dog. Murphy uses this to illustrate that Gotham is far larger than we think it is and that there are many people that Batman has saved from every corner of his beloved city, but he hasn’t done enough yet. So what’s the final step?

Batman reveals himself to be Bruce Wayne and dismantles WayneCorp.

Bruce finally becomes the knight that Gotham needs by giving back to the people. By destroying his company, he gives back to the people of Gotham by giving all of his money to nonprofits, schools, homeless shelters etc. It’s everything that Batman detractors have been saying Bruce should have done for ages. In doing so, he offers Gotham a better future than he could have as Batman, but he only asks them to stay off the streets of Gotham for one night while he takes care of the Azrael business. Murphy shows Bruce holding his cowl one last time, standing tall by his heroic decision.

Back at the GCPD, he gets lambasted by Commissioner Montoya for going off and doing his own thing again, but counters by saying that he trusts in the people of Gotham and they all formulate their battle plans. It’ll be his last time taking the reigns before he turns himself in as well, so he might as well make sure that everything goes according to plan.

As Montoya tells Batman that Azrael destroyed most of the other Batmobiles in his assault on bruce in Book Four (I think), she reveals that one survived and I see that Sean Murphy is a Batfan after my own heart. The Batmobile that survives is the badass one from the Animated Series, what this book is supposed to be the “sequel” to. It’s sleek and well designed thanks to Murphy’s own love of cars. From the presentation, readers can tell that this is one of the pages he took serious time with as the Batmobile is given so much respect.

After a short conversation with Dick about what Bruce is going to do when he catches Azrael, Batman drives away, leaving his sidekicks concerned about his state of mind and we get one last splash page of Batman standing in the middle of Gotham Square without his cowl and the sky is a blood red. The Batmobile looks sexy in the background and this was all just so amazing.

Sean Murphy is a comic book treasure. His art and his writing truly made this an experience and a Batman story worth standing the test of time. It had the action, the drama, the stylish sequences and several twists and turns that make a story great. He’s made Batman his own in a grungy style much like how Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have in a heavy metal manner. Murphy’s Gotham is a masterpiece in crustpunk with social problems that Batman’s always had in the periphery of his character and every issue has been better than the last.

Matt Hollingsworth brings it to life with his perfect colors; Whether they’re making use of the blues of Gotham’s clear skies or the light purples of the night sky, Hollingworth makes Gotham look distinct no matter the time of day. Scenes are given hues to match the tone of the pages whether they’re full of intense anger or incredible sadness, Matt Hollingsworth sets the mood no matter what.

I really enjoyed this series, but I can’t wait for the next and final issue of it just to see that confrontation between Batman and Azrael. It’s been a long time coming and the fallout from Bruce’s decision as well… it’ll be too much, but yeah High recommend!

Best of DC: Week of March 4th, 2020

Best of this Week: Strange Adventures #1 – Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Evan “Doc” Shaner and Clayton Cowles

This is the Tom King I love.

The first book I read by Tom King was the awesome Grayson (2014) series post Forever Evil (2013) after Dick Grayson was “killed” by the Crime Syndicate. That book had a levity and coolness that no other book was really exhibiting at the time and King was kinda on my radar. Soon after, I’d heard that he was writing a solo Vision book and I was skeptical, but after a few issues I was sold and absorbed everything Tom King had written up to that point.

From Sheriff of Babylon to Mister Miracle, I was fully on board up until Batman got long in the tooth and Heroes in Crisis became a disaster. I have slung my fair share of mud, but Strange Adventures is an awesome return to form that blends the two amazing styles of Evan Shaner and King’s longtime collaborator Mitch Gerads. This book forms a tale of heroism and then overshadows it with horrific implications.

Adam Strange has always had something of a STRANGE presence within the DC Universe, mostly having stories in anthology books like Mystery in Space, miniseries or being part of various teams, he’s never quite been consistent. Adam Strange is a product of the sci-fi boom of the 50s and 60s, an archaeologist from the planet Earth whisked off to protect the spaceways and his beloved second home of Rann with his lover, Alanna. He’s always been kinda silly.

Tom King takes this silliness and turns Adam’s story on its head as we open to Strange doing a book signing of his memoir, Strange Adventures. At some point, he seems to have sold the story of whatever he did during some terrible war on Rann (that will definitely be expanded on later) and his name is on the lips of every American citizen, talk show host and politician as he and Alanna bask in their newfound fame.

In just the first few pages, Gerads and Shaner illustrate what kind of contrast we’ll be seeing throughout this series. During Gerads’ scenes, Adam is doing normal things, signing books, accepting awards, doing press and lying in bed (in more ways than one). King scripts the dialogue as being pretty casual in these scenes, the way that people talk when they’re alone or have a spotlight shone on them. Colors are striking, but the scenes aren’t dynamic, more somber with specific focuses.

Shaner, on the other hand, get’s splash pages of Adam flying through the skies and facing down hordes of his enemies with heroic poses, laser gun fire and explosions. It looks like a high action, pulp comic or Saturday morning cartoon and the dialogue is comparably cheesy. These scenes are meant to paint Strange as the persevering hero as he has to face down insurmountable odds and get by by the skin of his teeth and his very handsome smile. Almost immediately, there’s a pit made in the stomach because it’s almost too unbelievable.

The closest real life comparison I’m willing to draw, before the next few issues come out, would have to be that of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle. A few years after leaving the Navy, Chris Kyle published the book which detailed his time during the Iraq War and a lot of the media painted him as a hero for his actions. The book sold gangbusters. He went on to the big talk shows, did the magazine interviews, he even got a great movie made by Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper, but it didn’t come without controversy

Tom King seems to be channeling a little bit of that for Adam Strange and it works to great effect as in one scene, a pair of talk show hosts laud Strange as a hero before their interview. Gerads gives the scene a television like static as if we’re looking at it all like the rest of America. In the background we can get excited too as Adam emerges from the crowd with his jetpack and makes a grand entrance.

However, not everything is smiles and praising as, after a fan carrying volumes of Sheriff of Babylon and Mister Miracle thanks Adam for his service, we see a panel of Adam taking off his boots in the foreground while the focus is on a bloody picture frame in the background. The picture depicts Adam, Alanna and their daughter Aleena, who is conspicuously absent from the present day scenes. The blood on the picture speaks volumes more than could be said in these initial pages.

After another man screams at Strange, calling his depiction of events a lie, the pit in the stomach grows deeper as the first seeds of doubt are sown. Things are made even worse as we get a scene soon after with Shaner’s stellar art. The earlier scene made use of Cowles perfect letters with “BOOOOOOMs” and “PEW PEWs” to sell the sci-fi aspect of it and takes it to a higher level with even better balloons that placed comical emphasis on the more outworldly elements of Strange’s origins like Zeta Beam and Protector of Rann.

This comical heroism is emphasized as Adam screams about protecting his family while firing lasers at a mech created by Rann’s enemy, the Pykkts. Shaner draws Adam as being miniscule by comparison, but also nimble enough to dodge it’s blasts and taking it down with a few shots from his laser pistol. As he raises his hand in victory, one can’t help but wonder…was the event true? 

The same can be said when Shaner draws Adam zipping past a giant lizard creature, flossing his teeth as he goes in and out of his mouth like a real action hero. Adam Strange has always been capable, but this has an air of embellishment to it. Things get even worse for Adam as the man who screamed at him is found dead with what appears to be an exploded head due to laser gun fire. It’s an absolutely horrific scene that only Gerads could pull off.

We get a number of awesome pages of both Adam and Alanna doing damage control. The symbolism of Adam’s jetpack being a focus with a reflection of both Alanna and the picture is powerful as the implication seems to be that whatever happened to Aleena was somehow his fault, but Alanna still carries the scars of Rann, but doesn’t blame him. During a press conference, we see Alanna crying before wiping away her tears as Adam denies killing the man.

Where King scripted and overused the nine panel grid in Heroes in Crisis, he has Gerads use the format twice with powerful effect.

Something about Strange’s denial of war crimes on Rann feels off, much like how people called Chris Kyle a war criminal during the movie’s release, we get that same feeling here. There are almost always horrors in war and Strange has to have left out some of the worst details of things he’s done or seen, especially since this is a Tom King story and he doesn’t shy away from the morbid. 

As the pressure intensifies, Strange turns to Batman, the World’s Greatest Detective, as someone who can help clear his name. Adam is convinced that he didn’t commit the crime, nor anything else that he’s being accused of, but Batman refuses to accept the case. Batman cites their longtime friendship as a reason that he wouldn’t be able to stay impartial and that makes a lot of sense. You never want to show favoritism, especially when there’s a chance your buddy could be a murderer.

The book ends with another nine panel grid showing Adam flipping the bloody picture down, almost as if to avoid looking at his shame and guilt while he meets that man who’ll take his case. There will certainly be some “Fair Play” in his future.

This first issue of Strange Adventures was absolutely phenomenal. I think King does well with characters and stories like this. He did it with Mister Miracle and he did it with Kite Man in the pages of Batman. Adam Strange has always been that character who showed up in the background or the odd Hawkman story to show just how large the Universe was, but I’m glad he’s being given a focus like this. 

Of course, with Tom King, there’s always a worry that as the issues go on, things will start to go off the tracks, but I have hope. Even the worst issues of Mister Miracle or Omega Men were fantastic reads.

Evan Shaner and Mitch Gerads absolutely smashed it with their art. I love the idea of having two contrasting visions of one’s life with one bright and wondrous and the other real and dark. Separately, these two are phenomenal, together they are AMAZING. I would look forward to every issue of this series for their art alone, and with King’s scripts, this is just perfect.

This one gets a high recommend from me!

Best of Marvel: Week of March 4th, 2020

Best of this Week: Daredevil #19 (Legacy #631) – Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Mattia Iacono and Clayton Cowles

Daredevil was dead.

After Daredevil miscalculated a baton throw which saw him accidentally kill a criminal, Matt Murdock has been on a path of redemption – hanging up his cowl as Daredevil to become something better, someone that Hell’s Kitchen could truly look to as a savior now that the legacy of Daredevil was tarnished by a horrible mistake. Matt looked to God and retired for a time, then Elektra sought to pick him up from his wallowing. With her help, he became something else, not quite Daredevil, but not Matt Murdock either.

But this grey area he operated in wasn’t working either, especially since Hell’s Kitchen was under new threats in The Owl and the insanely rich Stromwyn Twins that not even Kingpin could strike fear into. After convincing the enemy of vigilantes, Detective Cole North, to step up and stand against the tyranny of his corrupt police force, the pair seek to clean up Hell’s Kitchen, but they couldn’t anticipate the Inferno about to rain down on them.

The issue begins with an opening salvo of villains, Crossbones, Bullseye, Bullet and Rhino “Alex O’Hirn,” tearing through the streets. Checchetto does an excellent job of emphasizing the carnage that these four are capable of with Bullet pushing a car over, Rhino causing debris to fly in the background simbly by stomping and Bullseye and Crossbones just looking generally terrifying with knives and a grenade launcher respectively. Iacono does an excellent job of showing the carnage through vibrant orange embers in the foreground that contrast the bright blue sky in the background.

Zdarsky does well in showing the scale of the carnage as various people from Hell’s Kitchen watch the destruction take place in their town. Hector, the hispanic Daredevil impersonator from several issues back, sees the explosions and digs out his costume to help and so too does Janet, one of the first to assume the identity of Daredevil post his disappearance. Both characters see the destruction of their home and step up to protect it. More on that as we go on.

Truly, no one is safe whenever Bullseye shows up to the party and Zdarsky and Checchetto, emphasize just that as a woman tries to save her child and Bullseyes shoots the man trying to save her from the carnage. When Bullet lambasts him for killing the innocent man, Bullseye claims that he was only trying to spook her because she was, “…going to throw a baby at [him].” I won’t lie and say that it didn’t make me laugh, but it came out of the blue and shows Zdarsky knows how to do Bullseye’s demented humor well, especially as Chechetto draws his terrifying grins.

In the midst of all of the carnage, Z-List villain, Stilt-Man, shows up and his appearance is one of the most devastating pages in the book as all of the art team comes together amazingly. One of the metallic stilts comes down in front of the car that North and Murdock are using to get into the Kitchen and the force of it is intense! Chcechetto makes excellent use of speed lines, glass shattering, car crumpling and Matt FLYING through the destroyed windshield to sell the impact.

Iacono colors the background with a dark red and black to emphasize how devastating this was as well as the dust from the concrete that was blown up by it. Clayton Cowles pulls it all together with amazing “KRNCH” and “KRSHH” sound effect lettering, made transparent to see everything and make readers feel like they were in the car with them. It hurts and I feel like my body is aching from it.

Crossbones shoots more grenades and sends the few cops ignoring the order to stay out of Hell’s Kitchen flying as only their silhouettes are shown in the ensuing explosion. Hector, however, decides to tango with Bullseye after tackling to keep him from shooting more people. The fight is painfully one-sided with Bullseye stabbing him in the gut with ease. It’s painful, it’s distressing because moment earlier, we saw the poor man helping his elderly father before things went south.

Other major players see the attack on the Kitchen with different eyes. The Owl sees this as an opportunity to rid himself of the non-dirty cops and get more business through the protection money they’ll pay to avoid this again. The Owl has always been a weird criminal mastermind, but Zdarksy has turned him into a madman bent on owning Hell’s Kitchen through the chaos and fire as he leaps and flies into the thick of it.

Elsewhere, Rhino is destroying his way through the city and makes it to the Church that Matt Murdock used to call his other home and gives the nun, Sister Elizabeth, ten minutes to clear the church before he bulldozes it. When Elizabeth was first introduced so many issues ago, I thought she was just another run-of-the-mill nun for Matt to heave his crisis of faith woes on, but Zdarsky gives us an exciting return through some excellent symbolism.

Chechetto does well with subtlety giving the smallest hint when Elizabeth lights a candle and then more light by themselves with Cowles small “fwot” effects dotting the page. Iacono obscures half of her face with dark blacks before it’s revealed to be Typhoid Mary with a demented smile. Mary was last seen in the (mostly awful) Typhoid Fever storyline in which the Mary personality was suppressed by the combined might of Iron Fist and the X-Men. At some point it seems as though Matt placed her there, but in the chaos things seem to crumble.

Of course, the most telling reaction is the look of utter dejection from Wilson Fisk, the former Kingpin. It’s not a look of anger, nor is he smiling, he looks defeated and in many ways, the state of things is his fault. Wilson Fisk became the Mayor of New York City and slowly washed his hands of all of his illicit activity, leaving things to the other families of New York. Under Fisk, the crime was at a reasonable level, but between the gang war of the Owl and the Libris family and the Stromwyn real estate scheme, things have become absolutely dire in his absence.

Bringing us back to Hector, soon after the stabbing, Chechetto delights readers with an amazing shot of the various citizens of Hell’s Kitchen with makeshift weapons and Daredevil masks. They tell the criminals to get out of their neighborhood, not hesitating to swing baseball bats at known terrorists and mercenaries like Crossbones. These are Daredevil’s people and just like him, they stand for what’s their and won’t see these thugs destroy it all. Even Detective North hits a devastating right to Bullet’s jaw.

Checchetto and Iacono come together with two excellent pages of Matt Murdock and the people around him. As Hector struggles to get to Matt, we see his own strength as the blood streams from him as the background is mostly black and red from the fires, but shows brighter oranges around the pair. His last words were, “I tried…” as the blood spurts out of his mouth while Matt holds him in his final moments. Murdock had saved Hector previously after the brave citizen stepped up, but didn’t make it in time this time.

All around him, Checchetto draws Matt visualizing the people of Hell’s Kitchen fighting back and saving people wearing his mask. Checchetto pulls in close to Mudock’s face as he removes the black bandana that he used as a mask and sheds a tear for Hector. He realizes that Daredevil is a symbol and it’s a symbol bigger than him because the people have taken it and made it theirs. Made it something to be proud of outside of him.

Matt Murdock’s greatest sins are Pride and selfishness. He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and feels like no one else but him can do it. This entire series thus far has been about breaking him down using his guilt as a driving force for his actions. The black bandana took him back to his roots as Elektra and Detective North rebuilt him through his senses and sense of duty – his body and mind respectively.

It wasn’t until he saw what Daredevil truly stood for in the eyes of the people that he could retake his name and become the hero that they needed him to be and the final few pages are powerful.

Chip Zdarsky absolutely slams this amazing issue by building to an epic conclusion with the first of hopefully many stories that he has for the Hero of Hell’s Kitchen. Without a doubt, Marco Checchetto and Mattia Iacono make for the perfect art team with dynamic visuals and colors that almost make you want to cry. Clayton Cowles stuns with excellent speech bubble placement and AMAZING sound effects throughout. 

If I had a proper rating system, this book would be damn near PERFECT and I stand by that and this series as a whole.

Also, support me on Patreon: patreon.com/TyTalksComics

Best of Marvel: Week of February 26th, 2020

Best of this Week: Avengers #31 (Legacy #731) – Jason Aaron, Various Artists, Rachelle Rosenberg and Joe Caramagna 

Tony Stark is Iron Man.

What makes him Iron Man isn’t just the suits, but the brilliant mind capable of forging them. Tony’s been flung a million years into the past and, lacking the proper equipment to either build a new suit or time machine, has to fend for himself until he finds a way back home or dies. Along the way, he staves off both his past and futures as madness and hopelessness begin to seep into his mind, but being the resilient bastard that he is, we all know that he can do it.

The issue begins with a flashback sequence to Tony using one of his first inventions, some X-Ray contacts, to spy on a seedy meeting that his adoptive father, Howard Stark, holds with some horrifying implications. Howard’s “goodness” in the Marvel Universe has flip flopped many a time throughout the years with the most recent being a swing towards good through Jonathan Hickman’s S.H.I.E.L.D., but this flashback peels back some layers on what Howard’s always been about. Through Geraldo Borges, we get a scene similar to Eyes Wide Shut and Rachelle Rosenberg contrasts the light that Tony thought his father was, with his immense darkness.

We then cut to the future…or the past rather, with Tony sitting in the same cave that he and T’Challa found the calcified remains of Tony’s armor a millennia later and he’s grown a sick beard and wears the pelts of various things he’s killed while trying to preserve his vibranium energy. Gerardo Zaffino takes over the art for this section and, per his amazing issues of Conan, continues to do an amazing job in portraying the wilderness as dark, cold and ravenous. There’s a black madness behind Tony’s eyes after being stuck for so long.

Soon after Aaron Zaffino, and Rosenberg show us just how Tony wound up in the predicament that he’s in with only half functioning armor. Zaffino shows The Ghost Rider, Starbrand, Odin and Phoenix of the era fighting the metal man from the future. It’s intense as he staves off the intense, orange fire from the Rider’s mammoth, takes a brutal shot on the chin from the Hulk-Brand, stops the buzzing blue lightning from Odin wielding Mjolnir and tries to reason with the Phoenix before she shoots him back to the ground. Her colors are striking with intense particle effects as she tells him to “Remember the face of the Devil.”

Throughout the issue, we get Tony’s narration of the whole situation and he’s so very hopeful in the beginning up until the offerings start coming in. It starts off with just one woman bringing him some cave grog and then more and more start pouring in. Aaron starts spreading the seeds of temptation as Tony bemoans the nights getting “lonelier and thirstier” and Zaffino shows these busty cave babes kneeling with their grog skins towards Tony. As time goes on, the men of the cave come with clubs and grogs in an attempt to force Tony to drink and Tony is forced to drive them away again and again.

He’s starting to lose things and get angry before a silver tongued snake appears in his helmet with Joe Caramagna giving him a voice through familiar red lettering and bubbles. The snake mentions Howard’s name, saying that his adoptive father paid some sort of price and Tony lifts his helmet, thinking to slam it down on the snake before realizing it’s just another temptation. It’s almost horrific and really sells just how much this time period and everything is getting to him.

At the same time, the Devil doesn’t like being denied, so it sends a monster after Tony, the Gorilla wielding the Power Stone from Avengers #13! It’s a short and one sided fight as Szymon Kudranski steps in and shows the Gorilla savagely beating Tony. Rosenberg’s purple background and debris signals us to the Power (wink wink) of the stone and the intensity of the splash page itself is immense as the Gorilla whips Tony around, smashing rocks and Tony’s bones while he’s powerless to do anything except yell and think. It’s not long before it leaves Iron Man for dead and allows him time to form a plan.

Tony does his best when he’s trying to not die, in his words, so the wheels of his mind begin turning as he sets traps outside of his cave as various snakes begin to appear outside and are skewered by his spikes. Oscar Bazaldua does an AMAZING job as he introduces us to his “Ice Age Man” design with Tony wearing a suit made out of hardened ice and powered by the last of his Vibranium energy. It’s very reminiscent of his Mk. I Armor and even has blades similar to Baraka from Mortal Kombat coming out of its forearms.

I love this design because it’s gaudy, retro and bulky all at once and made even better by the stark white, the fur on Tony’s neck and the stippling shading that I do love so much. Bazaldua even gives Tony the classic pose as he confronts the Devil at his door. It turns out that the figure is… *gasp* Howard Stark in the red cloak from Tony’s initial flashback. Tony knew that the man behind the Devil Mask was his father in that cult meeting because of the X-Ray contacts and had been scared since.

Aaron portrays him as an evil bastard that wants to have Tony cast away his future and rule the world as Father and son, only for Tony to send a spike through his head, “killing him.” Unfortunately for him, the body rises and reveals himself to be MEPHISTO and he absolutely launches himself at Tony and uppercuts the hell out of him. Robert Gill takes over the art here and shows parts of Tony’s being smashed off before Mephisto hammer fists Iron Man in the chest. It’s fast and intense to a point where the speed lines are almost nauseating.

The Avengers One Million look on at the fight and ponder if Tony’s strong enough to hold out against Mephisto alone. It’s a tough fight because Tony’s running out of energy, his suit is melting and the Devil has far more power than he can handle, so he makes one final hail mary upon seeing that Mephisto has the Time Stone. As he denies the offers Mephisto makes, one last time, and blasts the stone full of his last reserves of energy.

It’s a beautiful set of shots with Gill giving Tony a dynamic pose as the armor cracks off of him, shattering into pieces as he expels a beautiful beam of blue and white light thanks to Rachelle Rosenberg.Tony’s unkempt hair flies out and looks amazing as it flows out of the cracked half of the helmet and the wires dangle back. Mephisto lets the energy hit the stone and looks on with his evil grin and blasts Tony back with Time energy.

Throughout the book, Joe Caramagna has been providing excellent lettering and placement, filling the empty space and hinting at the villain throughout. He does this to great effect when Tony is flung back to his normal future, but has to witness other possible futures. Caramagna spaces each of the thought bubbles, grouping them based on the image in the background and spacing them out as to draw attention to Tony words and the corresponding panel of horror.

The question is, what was this experience meant to teach? 

In many ways, it could be seen as a way to strengthen him against the coming threats that Mephisto has coming and that’s doubly true since Arno Stark has resurrected his father in the pages of Iron Man 2020 and he could be used against Tony again. On the other hand, as Mephisto says in the final pages by Mattia de Iulis, he’s sown fear and doubt in the heart of Tony. Tony does some pretty dumb things when he’s afraid and wh’s to say that this won’t create a new ripple among the Avengers becaue of it?

Overall, I enjoyed this issue! While not all of the artists were to my liking, the story made up for the pages that I wasn’t enamored with. I really enjoyed seeing how Tony would find a way out of the mess and I do enjoy when Mephisto is being used well. Jason Aaron is doing his best to pace out the story and weave pieces into place for the Mephisto Event that we’ve been waiting for since it was revealed that he was the Avenger’s true threat.

The various artists did well, of course there were a few that I didn’t enjoy as much as others, but everyone has their tastes. Rachelle Rosenberg stunned with her amazing colors on every page and Joe Caramagna made it all possible through his lettering. This book was cohesive and a lot of fun throughout, but the price and the fact that this was more of an annual kinda story drags it down just a bit. 

For the most part, however, it’s a high recommend.

Best of DC: Week of February 19th, 2020

Best of this Week: DCeased: Unkillables #1 – Tom Taylor, Karl Mostert, Trevor Scott, Neil Edwards, John Livesay, Rex Lokus and Saida Temofonte

Ahhh shit, here we go again. DCeased was awesome.

In much the same way that the original Marvel Zombies filled my heart with dread, DCeased absolutely blew my mind with the short six issues that it took place in. It was equal parts violent and heartbreaking as the heroes of Earth had to figure out a way to either stop the Anti-Life virus or die trying. We had a good spin off with the single issue, A Good Day to Die and now we have Unkillables, another spin off focusing on some of the more violent heroes and villains while the events of the main series unfold elsewhere.

The book begins on the first day of the Anti-Life virus being released as Deathstroke finds himself on a job in Kentucky. Throughout the original story, I did kinda wonder what people like him or the other assassins were up to, given that we saw a select number of other dead supervillains throughout like Giganta and Clayface. As Tom Taylor and Karl Mostert unfold the story we see that Slade Wilson was killing some infected Neo-Nazis before an attempt to renegotiate his price ends with him infected too.

Mostert and Taylor set this opening up in a very comedic way with the white supremacits running from something in the local church as Deathstroke looks on, puzzled as to why they’re running before taking a few out before heading inside. Mostert, Rex Lokus and I think Trevor Scott then give us an awesome single page of Slade facing down a horde of zombies with only his gun and a bloody sword. He looks like a badass and, in the following panels, proves it by killing them with ease.

Mostert doesn’t shy away from Slade’s brutal violence and shows how fluidly he can kill with dynamic poses as he shoots and slices multiple enemies at once. This accentuated by the excellently colored spurts of blood from the zombies and the gory detail of blood on the walls. There’s even a really good panel of one of the zombies being cut in half with Scott inking the silhouette as their blood and insides drip down. Even better is when Slade gets infected and violently rips his mask off before coming back to his senses while choking a guy.

Tom Taylor introduces a unique aspect here as Deathstroke returns to normal on the second day of the virus being introduced. As we learn later, it’s due to Slade’s unique super soldier DNA that allows him to fight off the infection, effectively being immune to a point. I can definitely see this being a double edged sword for him as the infection seems to last for a day before being purged from his system. This makes him unique amongst both the heroes and villains of Earth as maybe a potential savior.

 I’d also like to praise Saida Teofonte for her amazing lettering as well. She does an amazing job, not only with word balloons, but with captions that have a bloody background and the typefaces she uses for sound effects. For the most part, they fit the gruesomeness of the story with intense and bloody BANGs to eerie RRRRRRs, signaling the incoming zombies. Deathstroke’s scream as he claws his own face is intense, scratchy and blood curling until we get an AMAZING title page with names filling the empty space.

As things progress, we cut to Jason Todd in the Batcave. The silence is eerie as we get one small “spsh” sound as Jason steps through the blood trail of Bruce, Tim and Dick. Unfortunately, this seems to take place shortly after the events of DCeased #2 when an infected Dick and Tim attack and infect Batman, leaving Alfred to kill them all. Jason, like most readers, is shocked because he thought Bruce would have found a way to survive and then he’s met by Ace the Bathound. After letting Ace see that he’s not infected, Jason proceeds to make graves for his brothers and father before speeding off in the Batmobile to find the rest of his family with Ace.

These scenes are powerful as Jason, normally the black sheep of the family, has to deal with the fact that he’s one of few left. Why wasn’t Bruce prepared? Why was he the one left and not Dick or Tim? Damian’s still alive in Metropolis, but effectively, Jason is all alone. Mostert and I believe Neil Edwards show Jason’s love for his family as he carves out wooden headstones and buries them in the cave. Without a word of dialogue, this speaks volumes about Jason’s love for his family.

Elsewhere in Gotham, Ravager, Rose Wilson with a missing eye, unlike her main continuity counterpart, is curled up in her apartment in fear. The zombies are pounding on her door when Slade radios in and tells her it’s time to escape. Rose has the ability to see into the future in short bursts and sees that everytime she goes for the door, Zombies come through and kill her. Deathstroke, however, has a plan. As a side note, it’s great to see Rose in gear similar to what she wore in Geoff Johns’ “Teen Titans” while also complementing Deathstroke’s current armor.

Unfortunately for Deathstroke, as he keeps his eyes to the sky, he sees the terror that is an infected Man-Bat flying at him with a terrifying SCReeeee as he crashes through the window and smashes the plane on the roof Rose runs to her dad and, believing him to be infected, plunges her sword through his chest and he screams “Ow.” This scene is pure comedy made even better by the dramatic rain and fire in the background. Soon after, Mirror Master, Evan McCulloch, shows up offering them help.

I don’t know what the reason is for using the Scottish version of the character, but it doesn’t really matter as the representation of the Mirror Dimension is still cool as hell. While wearing special glasses that block signals, they walk through the dimension and Mostert draws an epic depiction of it with all of the violence, gore and death through the many mirrors while the characters look miniscule compared to the vastness of it all. The Mirror Dimension has always been terrifying and McCulloch could do a lot to solve the problem, but it makes sense that he doesn’t. Cause it’s terrifying.

After many pages, we arrive at the rest of the stars (fodder) of the series in Vandal Savage, Solomon Grundy, The Creeper, Cheetah, Lady Shiva, Bane, Deadshot and Captain Cold. I do have a bit of a continuity issue as Cold was shown to have been one of the Infected during the events of “A Good Place to Die,” but alternatively this series could explain how he got there or, much like that story, it’s off base with what’s happening in the main pages. But some of these additions are pretty interesting to say the very least.

Savage is near immortal, but has been shown to have been killed before. There’s a high chance that using Deathstroke, he’ll find a way to cure and rule over the people of the Earth after the heroes leave. Grundy is already dead, so can he get infected? The Creeper is much like Deathstroke in that he can heal from anything, so it makes sense that he’s managed to survive. Cheetah is strong and fast, but I don’t rate her chances high and the rest, while immensely skilled, are still just human. This is a ragtag group, but they’re not averse to getting the job done by any means.

The rest of the issue focuses on Jason Todd and his fight to rescue the remaining members of the Batfamily. Mostert, Lokus and John Livesay give readers an awesome assault on the Gotham PD with Cassandra Cain as Black Bat, James Gordon and Harvey Bullock fighting back against the zombies. Cass awesomely kicks and knees zombies in the background while Harvey and Jim shoot them. I LOVED Cass as Batgirl/Black Bat and it was awesome to see the return of the iconic costume and a character that I like so much.

Of course,Temofonte thrills with the lettering here again. She sells the panic in both Jim and Bullock as they fight off the horde as well as the frankness of Bullock as he has to break it to Jim that Blck Bat is the only one coming. The static-y bubbles that she uses on Bullock when he gets infected is also amazing and saddening, but gets even worse when Cass has to “CRCK” his neck to kill him. Soon after, Jason plows through the GCPD in the Batmobile with a “CRNNNCH” that shrinks around the vehicle.

Jason rescues Cass and Jim after shooting the remaining zombies in the head and plans to get the hell out of dodge. Jim, still holding out on the idea of hope, tells Jason that Barbara is still out there somewhere, but Jason, knowing that it’s no longer the time to keep secrets, reveals his and Cass’ identities and shows Jim that Barb is dead. He then takes the haggard detective to her last known location and Mostert and Lokus sell the utter despair of the scene.

Infected versions of Barb, Stephanie Brown, Batwoman and Catwoman were killed by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn in Issue #3 of DCeased (if I remember right). This scene of James finding his daughter is depressingly grey and his facial expressions show us just how painful this is for him. He’s lost just about everything and cries in his grief. Jason, however, finds the dead body of the Joker and ties him to the front of the Batmobile before they all make their escape to Bludhaven.

This first issue of a three part miniseries already has me as excited as the original story did. I love each of the characters being used, the callbacks to past history and the way that everyone is being written. Each of these violent characters sees that there’s no need to hold back anymore as the regular rules are tossed out of the window. Everyone now has different amounts of pain and grief to deal with while others have different hopes of power or a cure. Ultimately, I don’t think things will end ultra well given the events of the main series, but I have no doubts that this will stand on its own.

Tom Taylor continues to be excellent when writing the despair and tragedies of DCeased and lifting up lesser characters, like The Creeper. His scripting and dialogue are a joy to read and I really feel like he’s got a grasp on everyone. Karl Mostert brings their all to this book with awesome panels and scenes that make readers want to wince, but look again to see the utter brutality of what they’re witnessing. His art is stellar. The various inkers definitely bring it to life alongside Lokus’ vibrant colors and Temofonte’s amazing letters.

I’m already gleefully anticipating the next issue and it more than justifies the $5.99 price, high recommend!

Best of Marvel: Week of February 19th, 2020

Best of this Week: Fantastic Four #19 (Legacy #664) – Dan Slott, Sean Izaakse, Marcio Menyz, Erick Arciniega and Joe Caramagna

It all began with one fateful foray into space.

Reed Richards, a gifted scientist from Empire State University, his brilliant wife, Susan Storm, her hot headed younger brother, Johnny Storm and expert pilot Ben Grimm board the Marvel-1 in an attempt to explore space. Unfortunately for them, their ship is hit with a wave of Cosmic Rays, sending them crashing back to the Earth and giving them all special powers. For decades, we all thought that everything was Reed’s fault for not having strong enough shields, blessing and cursing his family with powers, but we learn here that that is not the case.

Throughout the last five issues, The Fantastic Four have been fighting against the people of Spyre; A planet of normal people, enhanced people and monsters that have feared the prophecy of the “Four-Told,” beings that would destroy Spyre and their way of life. After Reed exposes their leader, The Overseer, for being the one that released the cosmic rays on the Four, Ben climbs his tower and beats the everloving crap out of him and destroys the tower in the process.

Realizing that the Overseer stands defeated and the eye that watched them is no more, every citizen turns on the FF, proclaiming that the prophecy did happen as the Overseer lay in the rubble. This issue picks up in the immediate aftermath (after a preview of the coming story in the first few pages involving Mole Man and Wyatt Wingfoot). Sue places a barrier over the FF as the citizens, heroes and monsters pelt her forcefield with fists and rock. Previously, the citizens were divided by their classes, but now they’ve united against Reed and the Four.

One of the more interesting subplots that Dan Slott had been weaving is the burgeoning relationship between supposed “soulmates” in Johnny Storm and a Spyrian hero named Sky, a darker skinned girl with wings that may actually be in love with another hero by the name of Citadel. This is one of the few times that Johnny shows an actual longstanding interest in a woman, especially since their connection was made shortly after the Fours first failed mission unbeknownst to him.

Slott had been building this up and getting readers invested in their struggle of love and it’s good to see Johnny loving someone like he did with Medusa or Crystal of the Inhumans.This is further tested as Sky is torn between the traditions of her people and her disdain for the FF after their actions. Of course, she’s not the only one who is irate as the Overseer picks himself back up and calls Reed out for a one-on-one brawl.

Reed’s never been the best fighter in the world, but he’s always had ways to use his powers to his advantage and can still hold himself pretty well. Sean Izaakse portrays that pretty well with a few expertly drawn pages of battle as Reed uses his stretchy abilities to dodge energy beams, punch Overseer from afar and uses his arm as a slingshot to fling boulders at the villain. Izaakse and Erick Arciniega work in perfect tandem to make these scenes exciting with bright colors and dynamic angles.

Things get even crazier as Overseer fights back with his own arsenal of suit abilities. Izaakse draws amazing looking rings for sonic blasts that Arciniega colors with a beautiful yellow. Then switches it up for crackling blue lightning and finally ends things with Kirby-esque bubbles of energy that go from a dark orange to a dastardly purple to match Overseer’s beautiful armor. This fight is absolutely gorgeous to look at even as the panels are mostly medium sized, widescreen rectangles.

Throughout their fight, the two have an exchange that boils down to hubris vs. personal responsibility and both make pretty good points. Reed had always blamed himself for what had happened to his friends and family, thinking that his miscalculations are what put them all in anger and that weight is lifted off of his shoulders with rage at finally punching the cause. Overseer, feared for the lives of his people from the potential threat from beyond by a man that never asked what the greater galaxy wanted. Reed always does things like this and Overseer’s only course of action was to curtail it before things got bad.

As always, Reed does what he does best, uses his brain to talk Overseer down, knowing that he too hasn’t fully mastered the use of Cosmic Rays and suggests that they could accomplish more together than against each other (opposite his conversation with Charles Xavier – see X-Men + Fantastic Four). Reed proposes that the two make a trade of sorts and offers the people of Spyre a chance similar to what Ben has in “The Almost Cure,” something we’ve seen used recently when Ben and Alicia Masters went on their honeymoon and would have allowed him to turn human for a day until he fought the Hulk and landed in a coma.

The Monster Men take umbrage with the idea because Ben had preached appreciating who one is on the inside when he rallied them to fight Overseer, but when one of the Heroes of the Spyre asks if it will work on him too, almost everyone seems to want in on the change. Of course there are others who see the FF’s gift as what will truly destroy their people, showing that some people just can’t be pleased. As their time on Spyre draw to a close, Reed and Johnny bond together like they did when this arc started as Johnny muses on what his life would have been without his powers.

It’s a touching scene and Dan Slott has always been great at things like these. From his time on Spider-Man and She Hulk, he’s shown that he has skill in giving readers heartfelt moments, especially given that we almost hardly ever see the pair together. This is accentuated by Izaakse drawing Johnny with a smile on his face as he flies through the skies with an almost old school look colored by Arciniega with lush oranges and intense reds.

Just as the FF are about to depart, Overseer tells them that only ones soulmate can remove the soul bindings on their arms. After a few pages of searching for Sky, she shows up to Johnny. I think the implication is that she went on some soul searching away from Johnny and when he offers to remove her Soul Binding, she refuses and tells Johnny he can keep his too as she’s joining them on the trip to Earth.

Suffice to say, this is as shocking to The FF as one might expect as they add yet another hero to the ranks, but she likely won’t be on the main team, but more as a supporting role until Marvel decides to give her a miniseries and then sends her back to the Spyre. She’s certainly a welcome addition and it’ll be fun to see what kind of shenanigans she and Johnny will get into as he’s naturally flirtatious and she wants to keep to the traditions of her people. It’s difficult to say that she’s fully in love with Johnny still as she flirts with Citadel before they disembark.

Overall, this was a really fun issue and concludes a story that had a surprising amount of heart and depth. Generally, I like the idea of Cosmic Happenstance and did love the mysterious nature of how the FF got their powers. I might have preferred that things be kept random chance, but honestly, I wasn’t put off by this equally ridiculous explanation either. At the same time, Dan Slott also alleviates some of the guilt from Reed’s shoulders which could be a double edged sword for him in the future if his ego grows too large.

Sean Izaakse and Erick Arciniega also do an amazing job on the art (I can’t leave out Marcio Menyz, but I didn’t really care for the Wingfoot stuff). The pair smash it with the visual storytelling through fantastic facial expressions, body language and utopian setting. One thing that took me time to notice was that all of the people of Spyre were black. It’s a small, but nice touch that makes them stand out amongst the other races that we see throughout the galaxy.

Depending on how the next issue goes, I may stick with the series, but I’ve never been a big fan of Mole Man stories, so I may drop off until the next arc, but this one was absolutely worth the time, a high recommend!

Best of DC: Week of February 12th, 2020

Best of this Week: Pennyworth R.I.P. One-Shot – James Tynion IV and Various Artists and Colorists

Some people think Dick Grayson is the glue that holds the Batfamily together, some say that it’s really Tim Drake, but we all know that it has always been Alfred.

Alfred has been by Bruce’s side since the day that Thomas and Martha Wayne were killed in Crime Alley. Alfred raised the boy from a young age and watched as he became a hero that Gotham City could truly be proud of. Alfred even got to see Bruce raise many kids of his own over the years and sas there to pick up the slack when Bruce was too injured, angry or didn’t know how to talk to them. Alfred was patient. Alfred was loving. Alfred was amazing and will be sorely missed.

Alfred met his tragic end during the recent City of Bane arc and even after that wrapped up, it still took time for the rest of the family to get together and mourn his passing. Bruce has been trying to cope with it all by throwing himself into his Gotham Renovation Project and various superheroics. Barbara’s been dealing with her own issues in the form of a rogue Oracle. Damian has the Titans, Jason is on the outs with the family and Dick (Ric) doesn’t even really remember Alfred.

In the end, Bane managed to do what he set out to accomplish in the first place: He Broke the Bat.

Not only did he break Batman, he broke the entire family as a whole as shown from the very first shot of this book. Eddy Barrows presents us with a pulled out shot, showing a statue of Alfred in the middle of the new Alfred J. Pennyworth Children’s Hospital – a momentous honor meant to save kids just like Bruce. However, this scene also symbolizes the distance between all of the family. Tynion IV does a great job of scripting their inner thoughts as told by an unseen narrator.

Damian, being the one who was there, feels the weight of his disobedience and sees things as his fault. Tim hearkens back to the time after Jason died and fears for Bruce, knowing the darkness inside of him. Jason was told to NOT come, but Alfred had always treated him right and Barbara feels like she knows how to fix things, but who’s to say that she’s in the right mind to do so either? And Ric… well, Ric doesn’t know why he’s there, but he feels obligated.

Barrows does an amazing job of showing the pain through their forlorn expressions and lowered heads. I assume that Adriano Lucas was the one who colored these scenes because they make excellent use of cold blues to emphasize the sadness of the Family. Barrows also does something that a few artists struggle with in distinguishing each of the boys from each other. They each have distinct hairstyles and facial structures and it’s a nice touch for such a tragic event. Soon after, Tim finds a little dive bar for them to meet in and they each bicker a bit before Bruce arrives for toasts and memories.

This book also does an excellent job of showcasing personal moments that we never see between the kids and Alfred. Beginning with Damian, Chris Burnham draws a flashback to one of the first times that Alfred bails Damian out after he disobeys Batman about going out on patrols. Tynion IV and Burnham capture Damian’s early petulance through his childish pouting superiority complex. We see that Damian loved Alfred because he was willing to be patient with the young boy and Bruce was just getting used to having a trained assassin as a son. 

Damian is still widely considered the worst Robin, but that idea has long passed its expiration date as the young lad has grown significantly over the years. In the beginning he could have killed anyone and not felt a lick of remorse for it, but over time, thanks to the softening of Bruce and Alfred, the boy has learned to care and take responsibility for things that weren’t even his fault. He tears up thinking that the rest of the family blamed him for Alfred’s death and regrets that he didn’t do more to stop Bane before leaving the bar. 

Tim speaks next and Marcio Takara takes over art for Tim’s flashback. The third Robin is still arguably the smartest, but during a hectic fight with Firefly, he leaves some of his gear and Alfred bails him out by sneaking into the GCPD to retrieve the items. It’s very action packed and does well to show that sometimes Tim loses his cool too, but after the recollection, Tim says that he would step in for Alfred if Batman ASKS him to do so. When Bruce refuses, Tim makes a point that this is exactly like how Bruce was after Jason, but this time he has to pull himself through like an adult before he too leaves.

Tim is usually the Robin that’s touted as being the one who saved Batman during his most destructive period. He’s always been the level headed one, but in recent years he’s been put through the ringer. From being kidnapped by an unseen entity and thought dead for almost a year (Detective Comics, 2017), to fighting an alt-future, villainous version of himself (Detective Comics, 2018) and finally reuniting with his Young Justice friends and dealing with the chaos of that (Young Justice, 2019). Tim is tired and even more so of the darkness that shrouds Bruce and the Family.

Jaybird raises his glass to Alfred next and offers a counter to Tim. He says that maybe Batman would have worked out his issues after Jason’s death if a new kid didn’t swing in and just try to relieve him of the pain. Jason has always been the most extreme of the family, but he’s never been above asking Alfred for help. As a street urchin, Jason doesn’t trust most people, but despite this Alfred always thought to check up on Bruce’s second son and tried to bring him back to the side of the angels. Jason never bit, but he appreciated the effort.

He tells Barbara that he won’t chastise Bruce for how he feels because they’re all in that same spot right now, but he does want Bruce to work towards fixing it. Jason knows better than the rest of them what it feels like to have lost (Heroes in Crisis, 2018), but he also knows what it’s like to be there on the fringes with no one there to help.

Batgirl is often lost in the conversations that usually revolve around the boys, but she shouldn’t be. Barbara’s intellect exceeds that of Tim by a wide margin, but that intelligence also comes with an intuitiveness given to her by her father, James Gordon, as they live in the heart of Gotham. Barbara makes the most logical statement about the general fear swelling in Gotham after Bane’s rise and defeat and the lack of trust in Bat themed heroes given everything that The Batman Who Laughs has done. Bruce’s reconstruction project isn’t helping either as it’s just another shiny coat of paint over a city whose problems run down to its roots.

Babs may not have grown up in the mansion like the boys, but Alfred cared for her just the same, effectively being Batman’s first daughter…niece maybe the better description? David Lafuente does the art for her flashback and it’s a more cutesy style with thick defining lines and lots of faraway shots as we see Alfred and Barbara hiking up a mountain just outside of Gotham City. The actions of Killing Joke absolutely still happened and to celebrate the anniversary of Barbara leaving spine rehab, Alfred wanted to celebrate with a hike and a cupcake.Barbara says that they need Bruce to come back and be the person that they all need him to be before she leaves as well. 

Finally, we hear from Ric Grayson. The former Dick Grayson was another victim of Bane’s vendetta, getting shot in the head by the KGBeast in an attempt to further hurt Batman. Aside from his Flying Grayson memories and a few scant ones with Alfred and Bruce, he doesn’t remember his life as Nightwing, with the Titans or the rest of the Batfamily and that probably makes this book harder to swallow. Dick has always been the elder brother to each of them and truly is Batman’s voice of reason after Alfred, but Dick is gone. 

So Ric, knowing he needs to step up and say something to get Bruce to help himself, asks him to tell whatever story Dick Grayson might have if he were still around. Bruce then speaks up about a time where Dick found out that Alfred had been leaving flowers at the sight of the Waynes murder to celebrate the anniversary of their marriage where Bruce had been leaving flowers on the anniversary of their deaths. Dick tells Bruce that Alfred always wanted to tell him that their deaths had saved countless lives and even the world at times.

It’s grim and kinda dark, but in the grand scheme of things, Ric is right. Batman has given everything he can to the world under his mission of Justice and that never would have happened if the Waynes survived, just look at Batman: The Gift (Batman #45 – #47, 2018). In that timeline, the Waynes did survive and it was a nightmare world where crime was rampant, Dick was crazed Batman like Flashpoint Thomas Wayne and everything was just wrong. Ric may not have known all of tht, but he did know that Alfred was right and that Bruce needed to be strong for him.

Before Ric leaves, he hangs a picture on the bar wall while Tynion IV and Barrows convey the emotional impact of Ric’s act through four panels without dialogue. Bruce looks at the picture and not only can readers feel the tears swelling up in the corners of their eyes, but we almost feel as if Bruce is as well as he stars upon a picture of the core Batfamily with Alfred as the focus between them.

I’m not gonna lie, I don’t know if I’m emotionally ready to deal with a Batman future without Alfred. He’s always been such a faithful companion and foil to our dour hero and his passing has only made Batman that much darker. The cynic in me knows that DC Won’t keep him dead forever, especially with an incoming Crisis that may undo everything from the last four years of storytelling, but at the same time it might not. I think the idea to kill Alfred was a good one to create awesome moments like it did in this book, but who will take his place?

Could this really be Tim’s time to step away from the masks and go behind the scenes like Oracle did? Could Alfred’s daughter, Julia, see a return since she hasn’t been seen since I think All Star Batman in 2016? Will Lucius Fox actually stay in the position as he’s there now in Detective Comics? Who knows?

All that matters is the life of Alfred and the mark he left on our favorite characters.

Best of Marvel: Week of February 12th, 2020

Best of this Week: Thor #3 – Donny Cates, Nic Klein, Matt Wilson and Joe Sabino

Thor has lived for a millennium and has fought in thousands, if not millions, of battles… but the one he will remember most was against his brother in arms: Beta Ray Bill.

That’s the tale that Donny Cates is spinning as we see the fallout from the last issue of Thor as Beta Ray Bill comes to find his brother standing side by side with the Eater of Worlds, Galactus. Their stare down is intense and readers can feel the vortex of thoughts in both of their minds. Nic Klein and Matt Wilson frame their confrontation excellently with a pulled out shot, showing them both with Bill floating hesitantly and Thor standing still, unaffected by Bill’s appearance. In the background looms the World Eater with neon oranges coloring his body while all of them are in space.

Cates does an amazing job of portraying Bill as someone who cares for his people, specifically Thor, given Odin and the Thunder God gave him a home and people after Galactus destroyed his. He tells Thor that he will have his revenge against Galactus for corrupting his brother’s honor and attempts to strike the Thunder God. Unfortunately for him, with the Power Cosmic, Thor backhands Beta Ray Bill into the recently destroyed planet of Clypse.

It’s an excellent show of power as Thor barely moves an inch and as Bill crashes, Klein draws an excellent pair of panels showing Bill being flung into the ruins of the planet, with Wilson offering amazing and dynamic oranges for the subsequent explosion and an awesome DOOM lettering from Joe Sabino as Bill hits the surface. The next panel shows Bill trying to stand with his armor and helmet in absolute tatters. Thor then comes to him and says that in the past they were equals, but with the Power Cosmic and his new All-Father abilities, he is far beyond what he was.

This is absolutely true as well. In their first meeting in The Mighty Thor #337 (1983), Bill was able to overpower Thor and use Mjolnir as a weapon against the Thunder God, thinking he was a threat to Bill’s fellow Korbinites. Soon after, the pair became the greatest of allies, even brothers when Odin forged a new hammer for Beta Ray Bill called Stormbreaker and allowed him to fight through the cosmos as an Ally of Asgard. However, it has been quite a few years since then and Thor himself has gone above and beyond his capabilities from their first meeting.

In the almost forty years since that story, Thor has beaten the Mangog and Thanos back-to-back (Thor, 1998), knocked out the Phoenix Force (Avengers vs. X-Men, 2012), fought back against the forces of the Collecter for a straight two years in order to reach a hammer from another universe (The Unworthy Thor, 2016) and repelled an interdimensional invasion from Malekith the Accursed (War of the Realms, 2019). He is now the All-Father of Asgard as well and Bill has lagged behind.

Thor tries to calm his brother by using the Thunder to transform into his non-Power Cosmic form, showing Bill that he is completely in charge of his own decisions. Wilson does an awesome job of using blue to contrast the raging fires of Clypse and Thor looks absolutely heroic and badass in his new costume with his regular, non-glowing, hair. Galactus blasts at Thor, telling him that he is not above the Power Cosmic, but Thor overpowers him with Mjolnir alone as the scene is colored with intense white and purple hues.

Bill calls Thor a traitor for choosing to help Galactus and gives the Thunder God a nice whack across the face that BOOMs out in his anger. Beta Ray Bill is angry and where he might have been holding back before, he questions Thor’s integrity for siding with a monster like Galactus and the two have a savage fight against each other. It’s intense and paints their formerly friendly rivalry in a new and painful light as every strike is filled with venom, rage and anguish. Both men even have great points during the fight as they speak between punches and hammer swings.

Bill tells Thor that he is a king and he has an army at his very command. He could have sent forces to the edge of the universe and fought to his last to stop the Black Winter from taking another Universe. The most powerful line comes when Bill says, “You could have come to ME!” and this hits far harder than every thunderous blow the pair have made to each other. Thor did have options and he always has his brother as the two have fought side by side through worse.

Thor needed Bill’s help when Asgard was about to crash into the Earth during Secret Invasion (2008) and Bill even offered Thor Stormbreaker when the Thunderer found himself Unworthy. Bill has always been there when Thor has needed him, but this time Thor has chosen to go to the shadows rather seek help from his friends in the light.

Thor owns up to the fact that he has to become something almost evil because there’s a far larger picture that Bill isn’t seeing however. The Black Winter has destroyed Universes and it will destroy this one too unless Thor allows Galactus to consume the planets that he’s heralding him to. Thor understands the responsibilities he has as King of Asgard and he is completely right. Bill is an idealist in this situation, but realistically Galactus, having survived the previous Winter, is their last hope (at least until something better comes along later down the line).

After smacking each other around for several pages, Thor attempts to throw Mjolnir at Bill and the Korbinite catches it, trying to keep it away from Thor. The Thunder God attempts to call it back, threatening to take Bill’s arm if he keeps fighting against him, but Bill does not relent. Klein frames this as not just a struggle of power, but of honor. Thor initially stands firm, trying to reason with Beta Ray Bill, but Bill is steadfast and struggles against the weight of Thor’s power. We get a pulled in shot of Bill holding on through sheer will before he tells Thor that he truly is unworthy of Mjolnir.

Klein then gives us an amazing shot of Thor lowering his head, a moment of pained realization as Bill’s words strike him to the core as he’s unable to say a word against it. But it is for only a moment as Thor then calls Stormbreaker to his hand and we get an almost heartbreaking and powerful double page spread that is best read for yourself.

Overall, this was yet another phenomenal issue of Thor in what I believe is an absolutely worthy successor to Jason Aaron’s years long epic with only three issues released so far. Donny Cates understands the sheer power that these characters wield and scripts them to great effect. He also understands their personalities and strives to give us a badass story that leans on Marvel’s past while also creating a new history in the process. I honestly haven’t felt this energized about a Thor story since The Unworthy Thor almost four years ago and I feel the same gravitas from this story as I did from that one.

Nic Klein, Matt Wilson and Joe Sabino absolutely pull this issue together with their excellent pencils, colors and lettering respectively.  Klein has an excellent eye for scale and fight scenes in particular which gives this book a grander feel while also highlighting the brutality that Thr and Bill are capable of as warriors. Wilson accentuates Klein’s lines with stunning colors that pop off of the pages and create the intensity and heat from the raging fires and crackling lightning. Sabino places word balloons and sound effects to give the book a voice and sound for every hard hitting action or line of dialogue.

With all of them together, this book is the Perfect Storm of what a great Thor comic can be and the awesome potential of singular events taking place in one issue. So far, I’m absolutely enthralled with this book and the cliffhanger from this issue absolutely ensures that I’ll be back for more – High Recommend.

Best of DC: Week of February 5th, 2020

Best of this Week: The Dreaming #18 – Simon Spurrier, Marguerite Sauvage and Simon Bowland

Okay, hear me out – The Dreaming has been really good since the beginning and while not on the same level as Sandman itself, Si Spurrier has done a fantastic job of contributing to this world of the fantastic and absurd with his own brand of whimsy and abject horror. I haven’t found the time to cover any of the issue because, well, there’s always been something just a bit better on the same weeks that this series released and though the normal artist, Bilquis Evely, wasn’t on the art this month, Marguerite Sauvage stepped up and provided her always stunning style.

A short-ish recap for the uninitiated, The Dreaming is a realm where all of humanity’s minds go when they sleep. It was ruled by Dream of the Endless, a being of immense power over and creator of the realm before he was succeeded by a young man named Daniel Hall. Daniel becomes Dream for a time and even appeared in Scott Snyder and Greg Cappullo’s Dark Nights: Metal, but at some point, he left the Dreaming entirely. This caused things to spin out of control until the realm lands in the hands of Wan, a moth like boy with a dark side.

The book begins with a dream apparition of Rose Walker, a central character of the Sandman series, looking upon Wan’s Eldritch side as it releases nightmares into The Dreaming. She muses that she’s been watching him for some time now, acknowledging that when he returns to his cute moth form they both forget what had just occurred. Wan appears satisfied, thinking his rule over the Dreaming is making the world better as he’s been dispatching “blanks” into people’s dreams to make their whimsical dreams more logical instead. This has a profound effect on the world as it seems as though joy and color are lost.

Sauvage stuns with her depiction of this joyless world as people just walk around with utter lethargy and casually kill themselves. It’s absolutely disturbing to watch as a woman prepares to drop herself from an overpass, seeing another calmly hold a gun to the side of her head and a man self immolating in the background. What makes all of this especially great, however, is Sauvage’s use of soft colors to almost make the despair and horror feel unimportant. Rose walker is the only one that stands out because of her bright yellow dress and normal looking skin.

Her internal monologue allows her to see that something’s amiss and that she should be a wreck after losing her mother and daughter over the course of her personal story, but she lacks sufficient motivation to pursue any action aside from sleeping, but then she recalls how vivid her dreams always were and Sauvage portrays this excellently as an unseen figure lights a cigarette for her and she drifts into a white space filled with beautiful wisps of smoke and color. In the dream, she hears something about a Vortex that will likely play a big role later in the series.

We then cut to Dora as she watches the transferred consciousness of Cain kill the man who initially caused Dora to fear her own existence, Keter. Dora is a Night Hag that had haunted Keter in his younger years, causing him to want to figure out the secrets of the Dreaming and ultimately how to destroy it. It’s implied (or plainly stated, I forget) that he created Wan and set him upon the Dreaming in Daniel’s absence. Unfortunately for Dora, with Keter’s death there is no one able to remember her story and she starts to fade away.

In contrast to the previous pages, Sauvage colors this scene with a deep, but not oppressive red as the facility responds to its creators impending death, giving things a sense of panic as Dora then looks puzzlingly at her translucent hands. Soon after, Keter’s body starts to convulse and a murky plume of light purple and pink pours from his mouth – the background and Keter’s body are white, with his outline and the monitor version of Cain being the only line art for this panel. Abel and Matthew (and others) then burst forth from Keter’s mouth as he finally dies.

Matthew is one of the Ravens of the Dreaming and he acts as the eyes for the ruler of the Kingdom as they survey the dreams of men. Abel acts as something of an accountant of some kind, but he has been keenly aware of Wan’s other side and chose to escape the Dreaming with Matthew, but The Dark Moth sent blanks to follow them and one of those blanks just so happened to be Ziggy, Dora’s former blank companion. When Ziggy disregards his former identity, his other blanks begin to savagely beat Dora in a flood of oppressive pink colors.

Spurrier tells two tales that Sauvage portrays in nine striking and dynamic triangular panels. On the downward facing panels, Cain lambasts Abel for having the audacity to kill him, but Abel counters with the fact that Cain has killed him hundreds of thousands of times over the millenia they’ve been together. Cain looks on with rage and it only gets worse as he realizes that Abel is mostly right to call him a coward. At the same time, we continue to watch as the blanks continue to assault Dora. These panels are most uncomforting as she pleads for Ziggy to help.

Sauvage does an amazing job of showing Dora’s distress is pained and betrayed facial expressions as she bleeds and cries while a flurry of fists and feet meet her. She continues to fade and is soon dragged away by the other blanks before cut back to Rose Walker and her continued feeling of disillusionment before Spurrier reveals that the unseen figure that lit her cigarette might be the hand of her Grandmother, another being with a strong connection to the Dreaming. She manages to convince Rose to take the bus and find the color of the world again.

One subtle thing that I liked about this issue and the way Spurrier has been writing this series thus far, is the implication that things started to go horrendously wrong when Abel killed Cain and stopped stuttering as a result. Cain was always one of the smartest residents of the Dreaming and would have figured out Wan’s scheme even if Wan himself wasn’t aware of his other half, but Abel was far too nice to think about it like his brother. When Abel is finally reunited with his brother, he begins to stutter a lot more again, symbolizing a return to how things were.

In trying to convince his brother to return to the Dreaming, Abel does he one thing he needed to do make things right with Cain, he recreates his brothers murder by stabbing himself in the neck with a fork while Cain says that he will, but because he WANTS to, not because Abel asked (Cain is a tsundere confirmed).

While absolutely brutal and horrific, it’s touching at the same time because Abel does this out of love and sacrifice knowing that the world is doomed without his brother at his side. At the same time, this inspires Ziggy who goes against his order and tells the other blanks to stop the process of killing Dora because she made Ziggy who he was…

Unfortunately, his newfound sentience comes late as Dora is probably seconds from death and True Death by fading. Then suddenly a bus CRASHES through the walls and Rose emerges, feeling the dream energy drifting away from Dora. Sauvage draws their interaction together beautifully as Rose inches closer and closer to Dora, trying to feel something before whispering in her ear and bringing the Night Hag back to life.

The soft colors spring to life as Dora mounts Rose and begins to drain her fear, her ear wings turn a bright white and varied pink watercolors dance across her body as she reaffirms her belief in herself and Rose is in ecstasy of feeling again. We then learn something crucial about Dora and how all of this might have been by the original Dream’s design. At the end, not only is Dora restored, but the keeper of the Dream Library is as well.

The Dreaming is a weird story, but it always has been. One thing that I have loved about this story so far is that it doesn’t completely require you to have read all of Sandman to understand it, but it enriches the experience if you have. These characters are fully three dimensional with their own motivations, fears and thoughts that Si Spurrier has captured so well. I’m glad that he took on this story because it’s equal parts beautiful and dark like the Sandman Universe should be.

This is also in no small part thanks to how Marguerite Sauvage chose to draw, color and ink these beautiful scenes, characters and environments. Everywhere from the human world to the land of the dreaming was distinct and interesting because of backgrounds, color choice and intensity – even the use of white space was striking and amazing to look at.

I think the series is supposed to end at Issue 20, but it already feels too soon, like we need more. Of course there are the other Sandman books out like House of Secrets, Books of Magic, Lucifer and Hellblazer, but everything related to the Dreaming will always have a special place in my heart and I can absolutely say that I have enjoyed this ride thoroughly thus far. High recommend!

Best of Marvel: Week of February 5th, 2020

Best of this Week: Miles Morales: Spider-Man #15 (Legacy #255) – Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garrón, David Curiel and Cory Petit 

I had a really difficult time choosing between this and X-Men/Fantastic Four #1.

Both stories were great this week and I was tempted to choose the latter because up to this point, I hadn’t really been enjoying this Spider-Man run very much. Of course, here we are though. There was just something about how this issue pulled everything together that made me appreciate the story that Saladin Ahmed set out to tell and how Miles is finally growing into the hero that fans always knew he was. Everything just felt so right amidst this roller coaster of an “Ultimatum” arc.  Even in the face of tremendous adversity Miles overcomes.

Throughout this series, Ahmed has been sprinkling small bits of an arc to readers with Miles constantly being late for class, tired and even being placed on academic probation by his Principal, Mr. Dutcher. Of course it’s easy to paint Dutcher as potentially a racist due to how much he’s had it in for Miles throughout the story, almost to very ludicrous points in his attempts to kick Miles out of the school. Things seek to finally take a turn when we find out that Dutcher found the notebook that Miles had been writing in with all of his Spider-Man adventure thoughts.

Garrón makes sure to draw Dutcher with the worst, “I’ve got your ass now” looks I’ve ever seen with one hand placed in his underarm while he taunts Miles with his journal. Curiel colors things ominously with light shadows going over most of his face as he prepares to ream Miles, but suddenly Brooklyn Visions, Miles’ school, is attacked by a horde of new Green Goblins. Garrón makes them look threatening as hell as they terrorize the student body and the teachers with destroyed cars and fire in the background.

Without hesitation, Miles tries to swoop in and save them, but the Goblins find him and Dutcher, rounding them up with the rest of the hostages. The leader Goblin demands that the school hand over Spider-Man while threatening the staff. Garrón and Curiel sell this by portraying the Goblin as a towering beast with one green foot planted on the head of one of the teachers, his grey toenails curling over him. They’re certainly not as intimidating as the Main Green Goblin of the Ultimate Universe, but their numbers and power do cast as at least mildly formidable foes, at least for this issue.

One of the black teachers steps up and offers to remain the only hostage if they let the kids and other teachers go. I really like this character as I think he’s the one that assigned the journal project and he’s been acting as something of a mentor to Miles throughout. He really cares about his students and colleagues even though he’s terrified and he’s the first of many to inspire courage in this issue.

Just as the Goblin is about to absolutely RIP the teacher’s head off, Dutcher steps up and says that his colleague doesn’t know where Spider-Man is and says that he does. Everyone remembers that moment in the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie where J. Jonah Jameson risks his life for Peter so that he can escape – well, after giving a telling look to Miles, Dutcher claims that he himself Spider-Man before getting smacked into a wall. This is an amazing turning point for the character as we’ve only seen him be annoying and antagonistic to Miles the entire time that we’ve known him. With one small act of courage, he kinda reverses it all when he could have just given into his worse thoughts.

Garrón and Curiel frame this scene excellently with one shot of Miles looking at Dutcher, with a light shining on his face, almost wondering what the right decision is. He may not like Miles too much, but he couldn’t forgive himself if he gave the boy up. We get another shot over Dutcher’s shoulder, shadows covering the other side of his face and Miles looking at him, afraid that he could have his identity exposed and die right there. With no dialogue these two panels say more than any word balloons could.

Ganke, Miles’ best friend, decides to launch another distraction for Miles to suit up and our hero swings in with an amazing splash page by Garrón and Curiel. The students cheer, the Goblins grit their teeth in anger and Miles takes a dynamic pose as his webs make an excellent line for the our eyes to follow from Miles arms, his heroic symbol and his gymnast legs getting ready to kick the crap out of evil. The black and red suit stands out amongst the mostly greens and browns of the page, putting the focus mainly on him.

For the most part, the rest of the issue is Garrón and Curiel showcasing Spider-Man’s Goblin Slaying skill while they try to take him down. He crashes through the wall of the school and Garrón emphasizes the weight and speed of the fight with debris and skid marks as Miles knocks two of the Goblins out, making them revert to human form. There’s also a really good shot of the leader Goblin chucking dumbbells and gymnast posts at Spider-Man.

Curiel does an amazing job of coloring the action as things move from the brown of the basketball court, to the blues of the indoor pool in which Garrón draws an amazing few panels of them fighting in the water. As per Curiel’s coloring style the water is fluid and beautiful and then gets excellent lighting as Spider-Man Venom Blasts the Goblin in the middle of it all. 

Cory Petit deserves heaps of credit for giving this entire book life with his incredible lettering and even more so this fight sequence. His transparent CRASHes and ZZZZZTs sell both the intensity of Miles and the Goblin going through walls and the power of Spider-Man’s Venom Blasts respectively. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the SPLASH as the Goblin falls into the pool or the transparent SLOSH that curves down the villain’s arm as he tries to punch at Miles in the water. 

The fight reaches its conclusion after Miles repeatedly kicks the Goblin in the face and finishes with an uppercut (Shoryuken!) over a red, pop-art background that could only have been made better with a POW sound effect. The Goblin, knowing he’s been defeated, jumps away and leaves Spider-Man until their next confrontation. Later on Miles and Mr. Dutcher resume their conversation from earlier and it is a far more tense situation, especially after all of the damage that occured to the school.

Surrounded by Curiel’s dim oranges from the fires raging in the background, Miles tries to explain all the things that he says in his Journal, but Mr. Dutcher calmly hands his student his journal back. Dutcher tells Miles that he “should report students engaging in dangerous activities to the administration,” but all that he read was a “fictional story.” For a moment, Dutcher gives Miles a look like he sees the fear on the young man’s face, but he rationalizes that if Miles hadn’t done what he did, there’s no telling if any of them would be alive.

Mr. Dutcher proves himself to be a trustworthy person because of the bravery that Miles showed him. Miles has saved Brooklyn, if not the whole of the world, many a time and he’s actually one of the more well liked Spider-People. Miles serves as an inspiration to the rest of Brooklyn Visions and the borough as a whole, but there’s also the downside of his presence. Somehow the Goblins were able to find out what school Spider-Man attended and that puts everyone in grave danger, so the question is… what will Miles do now? He did save the day and got taken off of academic probation, but the school is mostly in ruin. Much like Peter’s best victories, this one is pyrrhic.

Saladin Ahmed really knocked it out of the park with this issue. He does a really good job at scripting Miles and his supporting cast, making each of them seem courageous and sympathetic. Javier Garron and David Curiel’s art and colors have been some of the best parts of this run and they continue to stun with amazing visuals, making sure readers get really invested in the art and the story it tells along with the script.

I do also wonder if this story will play into the upcoming “Outlawed” event which sees teenaged superheroes getting banned from active operation after something terrible happens to Spider-Man friend, Kamala Khan aka. Ms. Marvel. The destruction of Brooklyn Visions could act as more fuel to the fire following this issue and it would be interesting to see how this could possibly contribute to that event. Maybe we’ll even see Miles unmask to the world? (Nah, it’s probably gonna be her, but who knows?) But I am excited at the very least for the rest of Ahmed’s run if the issues continue being this awesome.