Comics Reviews (October 28th, 2015)
Batgirl #45
It’s a good week when this is the worst comic in it, as it’s not a bad comic in any way, shape or form. I mean, it’s Batgirl at a wedding. Sorry, a lesbian wedding. Sorry, a lesbian wedding where one of the characters is trans. Every part of this is marvelous. The only part that’s not wonderful is Dick Grayson showing up and being a complete jerk. Which is, to be clear, called out unambiguously in the text, but I dunno, apparently I have feels about Batman comics and one of them is that Dick Grayson shouldn’t be the overly entitled ex-boyfriend.
Stumptown #8
Rucka does his thing, plots advance, Dex does things that are clever and rash at the same time, and they end up biting her in the ass. The character bits between Dex and her sister leave me slightly cold, however, and I admit, this arc isn’t quite grabbing me at this point in it, with the main hook feeling contrived. I assume there’s a twist, but in said twist’s absence this is a bit rough.
Chew #51
Glad to see this book move into the homestretch, and even more glad to see it have such a sense of energy as it does so. Love the diegetic ad pages, glad to see an Olive-focused issue, she being the best character by some margin. And the intro in heaven is great too. When this book works, it has a delicious mixture of grotesque silliness, and for all my occasional frustrations, I’m looking forward to seeing the home stretch.
Mercury Heat #5
Not as good as the previous issue, due largely to having an awful lot of exposition to do, much of it needing to be delivered by videophone, which is just tough to draw excitingly, and Nahuel Lopez, being a standard quality Avatar artist, is not really up to enlivening it much. (“Lovely” brokeback on the cover, though.) But the ending is a piece of deliciously sick comedy that plays to the 2000 AD roots of this beautifully. Kieron Gillen at Avatar is apparently a recipe for Pat Mills homages. Not complaining.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1
Delightful in the way that only an issue of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl can be, this one has teleporters, food courts, German alien robots, and, of course, lots of squirrels that say important things like “Chkkt!!” and “Chukk.” Plus footnotes. And catchphrases. And computer science. I don’t know how to sell this book, but apparently Marvel does, so OK then.
The New Avengers #2
It’s such a good week that there are two comics featuring Squirrel Girl in it. And though this one features mind controlled Squirrel Girl, she’s mind controlled by a multidimensional entity unleashed by evil Reed Richards that replaces her head with a gemstone. Also Tippy-Toe’s head. There are panels with mind-controlled squirrels with crystals for heads. Much like computer science and footnotes, this seems like it should sell the book, y’know?
Black Magick #1
Another Greg Rucka comic, this one featuring a female detective who’s also a witch. The former of these is the sort of thing that Greg Rucka writes well even when he’s completely on autopilot. The latter is an odd beat for him; I’ve not always loved him when he goes magickal/occult. But with Nicola Scott on art it’s desperately pretty, and the focus is nice and grounded. Basically, it feels like Greg Rucka writing a Warren Ellis comic, with all the weird disjunct that suggests. Quite fun, definitely check it out.
Where Monsters Dwell #5
I forgot this was a thing, with most of Secret Wars tapering off at this point. So basically, there was a surprise Garth Ennis comic for me this week, and it was about how wonderful misandry is. There are not very many weeks where surprise Garth Ennis misandry is not going to be my favorite thing, y’know?
October 28, 2015 @ 8:03 pm
Does it still count as misandry if the dudebro makes it sufficiently clear to every non-dudebro that he deserves it?
October 29, 2015 @ 4:31 am
Greetings,
This is not a direct comment on this post (sorry), but I can’t seem to be able to find a way to contact you directly with this question.
Last year, I backed the Last War in Albion campaign via Kickstarter (at the $80 level). While I received the e-mail updates, I am yet to receive the physical rewards (the first four TARDIS Eruditorum volumes and the Golden Thread book).
Is there some way I can find out what’s happened to these?
Thanks,
Matt
November 3, 2015 @ 11:34 pm
Not reading the new Angela?