There’s a lot to cover on Wednesdays. We should know, as collectively, we read an insane amount of comics. Even with a large review staff, it’s hard to get to everything. With that in mind, we’re back with Wrapping Wednesday, where we look at some of the books we missed in what was another great week of comics.
Let’s get this party started.
Carnage #1
Written by Torunn Grønbekk
Illustrated by Pere Perez
Colored by Erick Arciniega
Lettered by VC’s Joe Sabino
Reviewed by Alexander Jones
Cletus Kasady may be one of the most violent agents of the Symbiote readers can scope out at Marvel comics. This week Cletus and his Symbiote known as Carnage are set to return in a brand new “Carnage” comic book. Oftentimes the violent nature of the protagonist can weigh down the story scenarios. Can this fascinating new team of writer Torunn Gronbekk and artist Pere Perez deliver something special for this title? Why is Cletus seeking out additional upgrades to his powers?
“Carnage” immediately sets up the story with an engaging premise. Carnage is ripping through a place of fellowship in Omnipotence City. Gronbekk introduces captions exploring the fantasy scenarios that readers seldom experience in narratives with Symbiote characters. Carnage ends up getting sucked up through a black hole later on in the narrative and ends up in Rikers Island. It’s amazing to see just how versatile “Carnage” can be despite the fact that the core protagonist is a lethal villain like Cletus. Towards the second half of the issue, Gronbekk and Perez make a big shift in putting a massive emphasis on Flash Thompson. Gronbekk does not rush to introduce Thompson as a foil to Kasady. The pacing in “Carnage” #1 carries a great sense of tension while building up strong subtext for the debut chapter.
Artist Pere Perez trades up his typically joyous and light art for a sinister narrative centered around a villain. Even Perez’s pages with Thompson carry a morose nature to them that evokes Gronbekk’s scripts with care. It’s shocking to see just how violent the page layouts get towards the second half of the issue. Cletus enacts countless misdeeds in “Carnage” #1 and Perez doesn’t shy away from the visual elements that make this character so dark. Cletus delivers these tense expressions that always serve to foreshadow the crimes he’s looking to commit. The final expression and layout of the cliffhanger punctuates the violence readers experience earlier in the narrative.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – ”Carnage” #1 is an impressive debut that finds a compelling hook for its protagonist.
Justice Society of America #7
Written by Geoff Johns
Illustrated by Marco Santucci
Colored by Ivan Plascencia
Lettered by Rob Leigh
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
The scope of the current “Justice Society of America” series is baffling on so many levels. On one hand, the book appears to be somewhat siloed, with its events not really effecting much outside of its own title and the ancillary titles that spun out of it (“Stargirl: The Lost Children,” “Jay Garrick: The Flash”). On the other hand, this one issue references the 31st century, the first Geoff Johns run on “JSA,” the most reviled DC story of the 21st century (“Identity Crisis”), and continues the introduction of the lost sidekicks into ‘main’ continuity. This must be the single most ambitious, yet dammed off book in years.
The good news is that Johns is pulling it off really well. This book feels every bit the tapestry that it is, with Johns essentially picking all his favorite bits from across the last 40 years of DC continuity, as well as pulling liberally from what he did on the CW’s Stargirl show. Even though a lot of this is winking at the past, the combination of characters and setting, along with the ever-useful tool of time travel, makes all of this feel new and exhilarating.
After the book being anchored by Mikel Janin and Jerry Ordway for the first arc, the Marco Santucci art here can’t help but feel like a little bit of a step backwards, but Santucci more or less makes it work. There are a few moments where Santucci really shines, which are the Grundy and Fate sequences, when he can do things that feel more metaphysical or magical. When Santucci is called upon to just draw superheroes standing around, there are awkward poses and some lumpy constructions. Santucci has to draw a huge variety of characters here, and most of them are recognizable and are able to deliver the emotion from the script. But still, coming off of the original art team, this art can feel a little slight in places.
But the marvel of the book remains just how much both creators manage to squeeze in here. This feels absolutely compressed in a way that few modern comics do, with every page stuffed with visual information and more characters than you can shake a stick at. If Johns and co. can keep this up through the (announced) 12-issue run, it will be a really remarkable, and remarkably dense, comic.
Final Verdict: 7.1 – A really compelling and strange – in a good way – modern JSA story.
