There is 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.
Archangel #1
Written by William Gibson
Illustrated by Butch Guice
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
I’m always a little bit skeptical of when a prose writer dips their toe into the world of comics. Sure, we have lots of good stories that have come from that, but we also have “Identity Crisis.” The media aren’t as closely linked as some would suspect, and it is never exactly a sure thing that the skills will translate.
William Gibson, author or “Neuromancer,” “The Difference Engine,” and more is writing this four issue miniseries from IDW, which is based on an unrealized screenplay he co-wrote a number of years ago. The story is pretty typical sci-fi fun – time travelers create splinter timelines to prevent terrible things from happening, only to need to create more splinter timelines because more horrible things happen.
Butch Guice does his usual stunning work here. Guice is one of the few working artists who can walk the line of photorealistic without losing the movement or flow of a great visual storyteller. Naomi Givens, our protagonist in the 40s, has a little bit of Hayley Atwell and a little bit of Scarlet Johansen in her, and Guice gives her both an authority and an impishness that makes you instantly like her when you see her. There isn’t a ton of action here for Guice to sink his teeth into, but he makes the most of the character work, and is setting the stage for what looks to be a series not light on action.
Final Verdict: 7.1 – A strong start to a series that, hopefully, can shake a little bit of the ‘boiler plate scifi’ plot and deliver something special.
Aquaman #52
Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Vicente Cifuentes
Reviewed by Keith Dooley
The final issue of the New 52 volume of “Aquaman” comes to an anticlimactic end, with a rushed quality to both story and art. Writer Dan Abnett introduced some intriguing elements in previous issues, yet leaves much of those plot lines dangling with this finale. Abnett will be returning when the book relaunches with a new number one in June, so maybe the idea of “strange water” beneath the ocean will be resolved. Abnett lends distinct voices to both Arthur Curry and Mera, yet “Aquaman” #52 has too many moments with superfluous dialogue that just seems placed within unneeded action scenes. Dead Water is a mysterious villain whose journey may or may not be resolved with the advent of “Rebirth”.
Penciller Vicente Cifuentes and inker Juan Castro’s art in “Aquaman” #52 lacks the dynamism of some of their previous work. Scenes of motion appear as if they were conjured from a computer screen and hurriedly scanned on the page. Splash pages lack any power, with equal blame having to be placed on Abnett’s writing as well. If the reasoning behind the action and story is lacking in any compelling background, then it makes sense that the art will suffer as well. Despite that lack of consistency upon the page, Guy Major’s colors are the one consistent aspect of the issue. The vibrant orange and green hues of Aquaman and Mera’s uniforms bring a sense of optimism and heroism to a tale featuring characters of regal lineage.
Abnett, over his short tenure on the book, has an affinity for these Aquaman that comes through even in “Aquaman” #52. Rushed or not, this is hopefully not a precursor to the upcoming series featuring Aquaman and family. Abnett leaves us wanting more from the mystery surrounding the sea, which can only be a good thing for us if he follows through on it.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – Far from being a great final issue, “Aquaman” #52 still features a glints of a hero who is deserving of further adventures at the dawn of “Rebirth”.
Continued below
Brutal Nature #1
Written by Luciana Saracino and Carlos Guzman
Illustrated by Ariel Olivetti
Reviewed by Matthew Garcia
Not too long ago, I rewatched the Disney Pocahontas for the first time in, like, a decade. While it features some gorgeous backgrounds and stellar animation, I was taken aback by how poorly it handled the Native American culture. Although the creators and producers wanted to bring justice and fresh perspective to this Tsenacommacah area, they fell into a bunch of stereotypical tropes and easy generalizations that make it a difficult movie to get through. I bring this up because I had the exact same reaction to “Brutal Nature” #1.
Written by Luciano Saracino and illustrated by Ariel Olivetti, “Brutal Nature” #1 centers around this young Colombian man named Ich in the 1600s, who possesses a series of masks allowing him to turn into various animals. He uses them to fight the invading Spanish and protect the local villages. Olivetti’s art is the main draw here. It bears this old school “Heavy Metal” look, which plays especially well in the closing pages. Apart from opening action sequence, where he goes maybe a little too far with the distorted staging and overblown expression, his work reads decently for its painted and dramatic aesthetic. His draftsmanship offers some impressive sets, and does well to convey the mysticism of the jungle with the cold structures of the townships.
But it’s that mysticism of the jungle where the book runs into its problems. Saracino approaches Ich with this noble savage mentality, exacerbated by the weird, heightened language he has gives the characters. “The green hides too many mysteries they cannot interpret with their faithless books,” Saracino writes. At one point, one character introduces herself to another by not only stating her name, but what her name means. Often, the natives’ characterizations are cringeworthy, something that might have been okay for the ’60s, but completely falls flat today.
Saracino’s story structure doesn’t help matters. He frequently breaks perspective to cut between scenes with the evil invaders and Ich. And even if Ich’s scenes lack tact, they are far more interesting than anything with the Spaniards. These characters are so broad and ridiculous they mostly just come off as boring, yet they still make up a third of the book! Saracino clearly wants to establish the native characters, but he doesn’t trust them to carry the story and sort of undermines the entire narrative.
“Brutal Nature” #1 features some interesting moments, but it’s handled carelessly and structured poorly. There’s plenty of strong visuals and the premise is intriguing, but the character work falls flat and the language is rough. I appreciate what they wanted to do with this book, but it’s not handled with any sort of deftness.
Final Verdict: 5.5 – Interesting artwork offset by tone-deaf narration.
Deadpool: Last Days of Magic #1
Written by Gerry Duggan
Illustrated by Scott Koblish
Reviewed by Robbie Pleasant
While Deadpool isn’t typically a hero associated with magic, his supporting cast has expanded to include a significant number of magic users, including his wife Shiklah and teammate Doctor Voodoo. So while “Last Days of Magic” might seem like just another spinoff comic to cash in on Deadpool’s popularity, it makes good use of Deadpool’s friends and allies, including the whole monster menagerie in Shiklah’s kingdom.
Given all the bizarre creations and bright flashes of magic, Scott Koblish’s artwork does a fine job making each creature individual and unique, drawing from a variety of mythological sources. The splash pages as well utilized, often showing the full scale of the monstrous combat, or stretching across pages to emphasize the hectic pace. The expressions he gives the characters, particularly in their eyes, do an excellent job at showing emotion even underneath Deadpool’s mask, and given the writer and the content, there’s a lot to display, once you get past all of Deadpool’s one-liners and the violent chaos of monsters battling anti-magic machines.
After all, Duggan’s run on “Deadpool” and “Uncanny Avengers” has done a great job at exploring Deadpool’s character, making him more than just a reference-spouting, villain-shooting, comedic anti-hero. The comics have delved into the trauma of his memory loss and brainwashed, blood-soaked past, built up a supporting network and even a family, and shown us the depression behind the laughter and witty one-liners. “Last Days of Magic” does the same, both exploring and tearing down some of those bonds that Deadpool has formed, showing us just how much his supporting cast really does mean to him.
Continued belowFinal Verdict: 7.8 – A decent Deadpool story that explores the magical elements of his world, with a surprisingly emotional gut punch thrown in for good measure.
“Karnak” #4
Written by Warren Ellis
Illustrated by Roland Boschi
Reviewed by Stephenson Ardern-Sodje
Conflict. Struggle. Adversity. Call it what you want, it’s difficult to deny that it’s the core of a compelling story. Reading through”Karnak” #4 though, I was reminded that not all conflict is created equally.
I’ve been a big fan of this fringe Marvel title pretty much since its announcement. But the past couple of issues have seen it start to head in a strange direction. Ellis’ pacing has slowed considerably as Karnak gets closer to finding Adam Roderick, the young Inhuman boy kidnapped by cultists in the first issue. So much so, in fact, that while the first couple of issues managed to cram in character development, plot advancement, and blistering action pieces, #4 is three quarters full of a single, rather generic, fight sequence that takes place inside the church of the single shadow between Karnak and some unspecified putty-men style goons. Having already established Karnak’s ability as a hand-to-hand combatant, this fight feels like a retread of previously worked ground, and as both the goons and Karnak are all but mute throughout, there’s little to be gained from the battle other than another chance to see Karnak get ruthless with some low level villains. And boy does he get ruthless. Ellis seems to be pushing Karnak’s character in a very specific direction at this point. In a stark migration from the mysterious, misanthropic monk who wanted to help train NuHumans, the Karnak of issue 4 seems to revel in death, quipping darkly when a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent remarks about fearing him, and wondering aloud why he can’t just ‘kill all the people’ when Adam slips through his fingers towards the end of the issue. It’s an odd angle and the result is a sullen, far less likable protagonist than the one we went into the series with just three issues earlier.
As with the last issue, Boschi’s art continues to be a solid stand-in for Zaffino’s darkly dynamic work. Boschi is given a wordless fight sequence about thirteen pages long that I can’t help but feel might have been scripted using the Marvel method. He manages to keep it relatively interesting, although as a parade of pale warriors descend from the roof of the chapel it does become difficult to keep up with who’s dead and who’s alive. The similarity of their design feels necessary for the ‘gestalt’ quality of their character, but it also has the result of making this brawl look a little like a set piece from a video game set to horde mode. The fact that Karnak dispatches the majority of the beasties without so much as batting an eyelid also means that, even with Boschi’s hugely physical fight-work, it doesn’t feel like there’s much at stake in this battle. He manages a few nice visual touches, like using the snaking umbilical cords of the pale warriors as panel separators, but there are times when the messy layout and lack of a concrete background make it seem like Karnak is flying from punch to punch without ever touching the ground.
Karnak’s rapidly increasing detached nature means that this issue makes me question his motivation for pursuing the very boy who’s safety was the driving force of the initial mission. Boschi’s art, while in keeping with the tone of the book and exciting enough in isolation, feels a little too repetitive to sustain a fight scene that lasts for quite as long as this one does without any narrative stimulation. In the final few pages of the issue, we get a delivery of Ellis-esque high-minded dialogue, but think the whole of this issue can be summed up by a single speech bubble uttered by Karnak in the midst of his heated battle with the pale warriors. Lifted verbatim:
‘(Vastly annoyed sigh)’
Final Verdict: 5.1 – A strangely slow and unsatisfying entry into a series that I have been pretty invested in up until this point.
Mirror #4
Written by Emma Rios
Illustrated by Hwei Lim
Reviewed by Michelle White
This is the penultimate issue of the first arc of “Mirror”, a fantasy series from Image Comics that pits mage-scientists against sentient animals on a terraformed asteroid. This issue takes place on broader scale than ever before, bringing a cosmic perspective on the events so far. And if that sounds like a rough summary, it’s because I have trouble getting specific with this series.
A fellow member of the 8House universe, “Mirror” shares a vital flaw with “From Under Mountains” – namely, a tendency toward loose, broad-strokes storytelling that confounds the reader at every turn. Some might say this flaw is a strength – a hazy story allows the art to shine all the more brightly – but I’m not sure I buy that line of reasoning. As much as I love the jewel-box quality of Lim’s artwork – the bright palette, the watercolour textures, the innovative layouts – I think I’d love it more if I had a firmer grasp on the story.
This said, that “From Under Mountains” and “Mirror” share this tendency is evidence of a common intention among their creators, so it might be me as a reader that’s not quite getting it. My guess is readers who are willing to stand back and squint – letting the plot points blend together and warp – might get more out of both these series than I do.
The short story at the end of issue – like the other shorts, featuring Rios on art and Lim on writing – offers a neat counterpoint to the issue without drawing much attention to itself. Rios’s watercolour work here is so precise that it resembles pointillism.
“Mirror” is holding to the standard that the first issue established, painting a beautiful world and populating it with lots and lots of nonspecific story. It’s a treat for your eyes but a tax on your frontal lobe. I wish I enjoyed it more.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Gorgeous and frustrating and gorgeous and frustrating.
Spider-Woman #7
Written by Dennis Hopeless
Illustrated by Joelle Jones
Reviewed by Liam Budd
It is a good time to be a fan of kick ass spider-women right now. Marvel has placed a good amount of commitment behind their arachnid super powered females, so much so we have an entire crossover devoted to them. “Spider-Woman” #7 is the penultimate chapter of the imaginatively titled ‘Spider-Women’ storyline. This has seen Jessica Drew team up with Silk and reality hopping, fan favourite Spider-Gwen. The action here is dialed down to establish an origin story and basically showcase Jessica Drew’s take-no-prisoners sassiness. Unfortunately, unless you’ve been keeping up with the crossover, this is not going to make any sense to a new reader.
Almost completely set in her apartment, Spider-Woman comes face to face with her alternate reality, male counterpart. Gender swapped heroes have become pretty common, especially when dealing with the multiverse however ‘Jesse Drew’ is roguish and playful enough that his inclusion doesn’t seem too gimmicky. Dennis Hopeless injects plenty of fiery chemistry between the pair and their interactions are the highlight of the issue. Smugness radiates from Jesse thanks to Joelle Jones’ design and when a full on fist fight breaks out, she makes you feel the satisfaction each time Spider-Woman lands a hit. Spider-Woman appears as agile yet tough as you expect her to be. Then when Jessica’s maternal instincts kick in, Jones reels in the fierceness and replaces it with pure affection and tenderness. Through this team’s collaboration you can see why Jessica deserves her own title. I just wish they gave her more space to breakout and show-off even more.
The rest of the issue is given over to Jesse’s origin. Though he makes an excellent foil for Spider-Woman, I don’t think we need a third of the book dedicated to his backstory. This crossover is supposed to be a showcase for the spider-women and with only one more issue to go, Hopeless could have expanded and furthered the overall story while saving this for when normal service is resumed. Especially when, as it appears, Jesse is going to be sticking around. Luckily, this means if you’re not comfortable with jumping on to “Spider-Woman” at the finishing end of a crossover it might encourage you to jump on after. And this definitely is a title that deserves a large readership.
Continued belowFinal Verdict: 7.5 A subdued yet fun chapter of the ‘Spider-Women’ crossover. As enjoyable as the dynamic between Jessica and Jesse is, it does feel to have come at the wrong time.
Tank Girl: Two Girls, One Tank #1
Written by Alan C. Martin
Illustrated by Brett Parson
Review by Alice W. Castle
“Tank Girl” is… weird. It’s a comic born out of 80s counterculture in a time when anti-Thatcherism, punk aesthetics and The Road Warrior could coalesce in a zine about a girl and her tank. Now, almost 30 years later, co-creator and writer Alan C. Martin has teamed with artist Brett Parsons for a new comic that’s… named after one of the internet’s most well known shock videos. Told you “Tank Girl” was weird.
What’s good about this issue is that Martin and Parsons are able to continue the absurdist storytelling of “Tank Girl”, kicking things off in high gear from page one and never slowing down the entire comic. A lot of world building is thrown at the reader through the dialogue and the comic never slows down to catch you up. This mostly works as the plot is pretty thin and is largely an excuse to have a strange adventure so the world building is mostly flavour text.
The art by Brett Parson is goddamn fantastic with a very cartoon-y style bringing a retro style to the anarchist edge of your usual “Tank Girl” comic. It makes things feel a lot more fun than just edgy or gritty and that feeds into the absurdist comedy and wacky adventurousness of the writing. And with Parsons lettering the comic, he can bring that same feeling to the letters as well.
If I have one gripe about this comic it’s that it definitely feels like an attempt to be a female empowerment comic created by men. Late in the book, two of the main female characters must strip down to their underwear and flaunt their breasts (including sound effects to emphasise the jiggling), but it’s okay, you see, because they have to do it in order to distract the bad guy. It’s totally not just an excuse to draw the character shoving her heaving breasts at the reader. I could go into this way more, but I don’t have the space. It’s a major, gross mark against what could have otherwise been a really fun comic.
Final Verdict: 5.9 – This could have been the start of something really cool and fun, but it descends into unnecessarily sexist humour that tries and fails to disguise itself as empowering.
Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #7
Written by Robert Venditti
Illustrated by Raul Allen
Reviewed by Ken Godberson III
“Wrath of the Eternal Warrior” has been a slow burn. A very slow burn. Having said that, “Labyrinth” starts with so much force and that is thanks to Venditti giving us a look out how our villain, Sovereign, works. Intelligent, ruthless, grandiose, slightly dry and a bit creepy, Sovereign proves a worthy enemy as he introduces Gilad to his labyrinth. As for Gilad, he is completely out of his depth. Despite all his skills, his knowledge, he’s going up against someone who equals it.
For as good a job that Robert Venditti does in establishing character, the real stars of this issue are Raul Allen and Patricia Martin on art duties. Like David Aja on “Hawkeye”, the art team’s paneling style varies so much from page to page, from the fifteen-panel grid to display the long flow of time to the double-page spread showing the vastness of the labyrinth. Even those pages with nightmarish amount of panels are not overlooked when it comes to detail. One last aspect to applaud is the coloring work, in particular the use of negative space to create the dreadful sense of isolation that Gilad is going through the labyrinth.
The last two issues of the book had been about setup, but I am so glad to be excited for this book again.
Final Verdict: 8.5- “Wrath” has been quietly building itself up to great effect.
Zodiac Starforce
Written by Kevin Panetta
Illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau
Reviewed by Jess Camacho
Emma, Kim, Savanna and Molly are your typical teens with a twist. They are a magical team that works to defeat the biggest threats facing Earth. “Zodiac Starforce” works on a lot of levels. In just four issues, Panetta and Ganucheau do a great job at establishing their characters. We get a great grasp on who each of these girls are and what makes them tick. Panetta uses a lot of the visual cues delivered by Ganucheau’s gorgeous art. This series is action packed and separates itself enough from it’s influences thanks in huge part to it’s characters. The story itself isn’t something completely new but that doesn’t work against it so much. Bouncing off of established tropes and turning them into something positive is a sign of understanding storytelling and this team gets that. For all the sass and pizzazz the series has, it does suffer from the short miniseries format. “Zodiac Starforce” is fun but it has to do so much in such a short space. We need to learn about each of the girls, how they got their power, what their relationships are like, set up a villain and carry out a cohesive plot. It does do this, for the most part, but it does need to rush it all in. We get a taste in this first miniseries and I sincerely hope we get another chapter of this saga so we get things slowed down just a bit.
Ganucheau’s art is really what initially drew me to this book because of how fun it is. She pays homage to the magical girl stories that have come before this series but is able to do some great stuff all of her own. The magical girl looks are uniform to an extent. You can tell very easily that they are a team but each character’s uniform and styling reflects each one of their personalities. You gain insight into their surface characteristics thanks to how Ganucheau approaches her designs. Her cartoonish, cute and fun aesthetic lends itself to beautiful, exhilarating action scenes that set “Zodiac Starforce” apart from many other comic books in the genre.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – “Zodiac Starforce” is a cute and fun read but does feel a little overstuffed.
