Checkmate #6 Okay, so on the one hand, this was just the death rattle of a book which started out in the Quite Good category in both story and art and quickly deteriorated on both fronts. In fact, I wasn't at all excited about buying this last issue of the series...and might have even passed on it if not for the old comic book OCD factor. But that would have been a mistake. Because...and this is a SPOILER, so we'll switch to white print here, and you can highlight to read if you so desire...turns out that one of the Mysterious Characters in Checkmate, one Mr. King...is revealed to be none other than Kamandi. Say what? Yes, Kamandi. Now how is that possible? Well, it's a fuckin' comic book, so that's not really a question is it. The better question is why did it happen. And I'm not talking about this particular story, because seriously, this Mr. King could have been revealed to be Captain Carrot and it would have made no difference whatsoever. I'm talking about why did Brian Michael Bendis, who has some real power in the current rendition of the DC Universe...choose to bring The Last Boy on Earth into the frontline of this book? A book which did a fairly good business out of the chute-- according to the June 2021 Comic Book Sales on Comichron, the first issue sold 33,000 copies, making it 88 out of 446 books that came out that month. (And from there the story gets a little more interesting: #2 was 127 out of 450 with 11,440 copies, #3 was 143 of 460 with 18,000, #4 was 147 of 454 with 20,000 copies, and I couldn't find figures for issues 5 and 6. But check out that arc. Looks pretty typical initially, with the first issue spike falling off with the second issue, but then popping back up quite a bit with issue 3 and then popping up even more with issue #4.) In other words, a fairly prominent DC title. Makes me wonder if this is yet another re-introduction of Kamandi into the mainstream current (direct, of course) of DC. Pretty exciting though, huh? The only bad news here is that I'm now going to have to go back and re-read this whole series so that I can have a focus on this Mr. King. See what he did, allathat. Not to mention see if BMB dropped any hints that went past me the first time through. Sigh.
Clans of Belari #1 I wrote about being interested in one of the later issues of this book a few weeks back. Checked to see if Hoopla had it up...nope. Decided that I would wait until a collection was released, hoping that the public library would get it, and if that didn't happen, planned on throwing down some dollars at The Great Escape. But TGE had a 20% off sale for Black Friday, and I only had two new books this week (see above and below), so I thought I'd go ahead and snag this from the back issue bin. And you know...it was well worth the cost. First off, Aftershock Comics does a superb job of packaging their stuff. The covers are cardstock, the interior pages are slick and glossy, and the production values are high. Also, I don't know if it was just because this was a first issue, but there were 24 story & art pages, and the only ads were (1) in-house and (2) clustered at the end of the book, so the story was never interrupted by Twinkies or Ho-Hos. So to speak. I thought the cover art was excellent, and while the interior art wasn't as good, it was still more than serviceable. So good, then. And the story, by first time comic book writing brothers Peter and Rob Blackie, was very interesting. The overall concept seems a bit stupid to me--in the Belari System, the people are divided into different clans (hence...), and each clan is responsible for / limited to a specific function in the economy. If you step out of line, you get a visit from a scary guy with a weapon. But within that stupid concept, I think the Blackie boys played well. I care enough about the lead characters...Gummy and Te'a...that I want to and will be reading issue #2 in the near future. I knew I should have picked up issues 2 and 3 while I was looking at them (and gotten that 20% off)! But I was afraid that the book wouldn't be any good, and then I'd have spent an extra $10 for shit. Not that that hasn't happened before, but you know, you avoid it when you can. But for you, Dear Reader, I'd say if you see 'em, get 'em...and 20% off be damned.
Usagi Yojimbo #24 Well, you know how this goes, right? It's a good, solid comic book. The art is excellent, and the addition of color to Usagi Yojimbo is a great thing. The story is well-paced, the characters individuated and quite real--especially considering that they're bunny rabbits, etc. But...it's just very predictable. I will probably continue to buy this book until it stops, but it will never be my first read (unless it's the only book that week), and that's a shame. But I need something to change here, Stan. Radically. Like for Usagi to get old. Or lose his ability to fight. Or lose a limb or two. SOMEthing to change the playing field. Sorry, because I love Usagi immensely, and have been following him for many years, and own almost every issue of the regular magazines, and many of the special stuffs (mini-series, graphic novels, goes appearances) as well. But I feel like we're just swimming in a fish bowl, y'know?
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