It's been awhile since I made it to The Great Escape, I'm sorry to say. No particular reason other than sometimes it's hard to make time for yourself when you have the care of two autistic adults on your hands. I was sorry to find that there was nothing at all in my Holds box...which meant that even though it had been at least three weeks since my last visit, no Milestone titles had come out. (I think that those are the only titles I have on Hold right now.) In fact, I found that so hard to believe that I had to go check on the last release dates. And? Well...
Icon and Rocket #4 came out on November 2, 2021
Static #4 came out on November 9, 2021
Hardware #3 came out on November 30, 2021.
Hmpf. That's not good, is it? Over a month since the most recent release, and almost two months since the most overdue release. Milestone, I love you dearly, but I have to say...this is not the way to stage a comeback. Here's hoping that whoever's in charge buckles it down in 2022.
I did find some titles I wanted on the racks, though.
Fresh out were Action Comics #1038, Detective Comics #1046, and Dark Knights of Steel #2. I've been pretty happy with Action of late, and will probably put that in my Holds box next time I go to TGE. And I like to check in on Detective every little once in awhile. The tricky thing with that is finding an issue that isn't in the middle of a multi-part arc. Well...this one was entitled "Fear State: Aftermath" (according to the cover; on the inside it seemed to be entitled "Out and Gone"), and I decided that that was close enough for me. Also, it had a cool cover. And I enjoyed the first issue of Dark Knights of Steel, so I thought I'd see what they did with the second issue.
I also picked out some stuff I'd been meaning to get to for some time: Suicide Squad #10, which I should have picked up almost a month ago & Mamo #5, which finally appeared in the Back Issue Bin (I never did see it appear on the stands, but that's not surprising given the fact that not many people are buying it, ∴TGE can't be ordering many copies, and I haven't been getting to the store on a regular basis, which is necessary in this kind of case.) I also picked up a mini-comic called CinciGnat...#26...which I thought looked interesting.
And?
Action Comics #1038 was quite good. Turns out Superman wasn't killed in the previous issue, as I'd thought, but he is in REALly bad shape, for sure. This was a really good issue...one of the best Superman issues that I've read in a long time...and I hope that it pulls in lots of readers. The only thing I'd change about this title is the back-up story. It is third rate at best. Dump it and cut the price to $3.99 and this comic book would be just about perfect right now. Or bring in some top talent to give us a back-up worth reading. (Paul Pope on Kamandi would be my first choice. Paul Dini on Kamandi would be my second choice.)
Suicide Squad #10 continues to reign of Ambush Bug...and yep, he is still one funny motherfucker. I don't really care about the story at all, though it's at least competent, and the art works well enough...but it's all about that Bug for me.
CinciGnat #26 was a mini-comic I saw as I was checking out. I misread the issue number as the price and mis-saw the number as 25, so thought I was paying 25¢ for a local mini. Turns out it was free. One big surprise is that the cover...well, one of them, as it has a front and back cover illustration...is by Adam Hughes. I wonder how that happened. Matter of fact, I'd be interested in hearing the story of how that happened...but that is Not To Be Found In This Issue. This issue --which is 13 pages long, and with one panel per page and one of those pages being cover artist bios, is only 12 panels long--was about cicadas. Not really a story, but kind of entertaining anyway. I wouldn't mind reading more of this. I wouldn't even mind paying for it. And I'd even pay more than 25¢. BTW, there is a website for this mini-comic: http://www.cincignat.com. And big surprise, starting with issue #25, CinciGnat is available on ComiXology (for 99¢). You'll never find it unless you remember to capitalize that middle G, though. (ComiXology's internal search is very finicky.)
Detective Comics #1046 It's been awhile since I bought a copy of Detective, for sure. Issue 988 (which came out November, 2018) to be exact. Although I did read #1000 at Barnes & Noble. But this issue, even though it was (as aforesaid) an Aftermath, was at least kind of interesting, and I thought the artwork, by Dan Mora, was superb. And get this: starting next issue (which releases January 4th), Detective is going weekly for 12 issues. Well...I just might have to be in on that. The covers look fantastic, and although the premise--Batman is gone and the Second Banana Squad steps up--is not what I want in a Detective, I am willing to give it a try. Alas, this is another comic book that has a $4.99 cover price and a shitty back up story. It's hard to believe that DC really thinks anybody wants those back-ups, but maybe it's just me being an old man. Comichron will tell. This one isn't quite as bad as the Action back-up. In fact, the writing is actually pretty good. The problem is that David Lapham's art is just so loose and shitty...nothing like the work I know him for (especially Stray Bullets). Anyway...the main story in this issue (20 pages, and the back-up is 10) features Batwoman, Huntress, Barbara Gordon (who seems to still be Oracle, but I haven't been keeping up very well) and a Batgirl I've never seen before. Batman himself only appears in 8 panels...and some of them is card tricks. I found it to be more than a little bit confusing (which is not surprising, given the lack of attention I've been paying to this title), but the gist of it is that Arkham Asylum is being closed down and Arkham Tower is being erected in the middle of the city. Because putting dangerous criminals in the middle of the city is almost always a good idea. Well, we'll see how it goes.
Dark Knights of Steel #2 You'd think I'd be getting tired of these various "imaginary" iterations of comic book heroes after all these years...but of course the truth is that no matter what you call them (alternate universes, etcetera), the "imaginary stories" are almost always more interesting than the "real" ones. So let it be with Caesar. This is a good book. A very good book. Tom Taylor, who (by my lights) has been off on some of the things he's written of late (like that terrible Hellblazer series from DC Black Label) is on this time around. Not only does he give us a great cast--Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Lightning & his three super-powered kids, Wonder Woman, Supergirl (who is Wonder Woman's lover), Lois Lane, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn and John Constantine--but he also does justice to each one of them. He turns them enough to fit the medieval setting, but keeps true to their characters. Also, the story actually makes sense: Black Lightning fears the House of El because it is occupied by super-powered "gods" who he fears (and perhaps with reason...that's not yet clear) that they have little or no respect for the rest of humanity. So he has Jor-El assassinated. Needless to say, Superman and Supergirl do not like that too much, and fighting ensues. There are nice touches of Tom Taylor's humor throughout this story...from Constantine's surly quips to Harley Quinn making fun of Batman's helmet ears to the allusionary "It tickles" comment by Supergirl when Black Lightning tries to fry her. And the artwork by Yasmine Putri...of whom I'd not previously heard...is most excellent. She has a nice light touch, and I'm glad that she is inking her own work, as that lightness could easily be overwhelmed by a heavy pen. The only complaint I have about the book is the coloring by Arif Prianto. It's too dark at times, and a nice, watercolor-y touch would really accentuate the artwork. I'm guessing he was brought in to counter a deadline issue, as Yasmine Putri did the colors herself on the first issue, and unless it just passed me by, I didn't notice the meh coloring on issue #1. Anyway...good book. I'm looking forward to issue #3 next month.
Which only leaves Mamo #5. I've been looking for this one for some time now. In fact, I almost ordered a digital copy from Kindle, since I had some gift certificate money in my account. (For the most part, I don't buy from Amazon anymore. Long story.) But I decided I would need to buy the paper copy later on anyway, so I resolved to wait, buoyed by the knowledge that a trade paperback collection was bound to come out at some point if I were unable to find a copy of the single issue. But no worries now, as it is mine. And it was quit a fitting conclusion to this most excellent series. I've really been impressed by Sas Milledge's work on this title...both writing and art-wise. As I noted previously, this story reminds me a lot of Kiki's Delivery Service without being in the least derivative. It's mostly the style of the art, the way that Ms. Miledge is able to convey a sense of movement on the page (via the flight of bird, grass rustling in the wind, and so forth). Also as noted previously, you can read the first four issues of this title for free on Hoopla, which is quite a boon. It looks like issue #5 is not going up there, so here's a suggestion: buy the trade paperback when it comes out on April 19, 2022 (for a mere $15). Oh, and by the way, this final issue is 39 pages long and has only two ads after the last story page, and sells for the regular $4.99 price tag, so thank you, Boom Box.
Next Week:
Detective Comics #1047
Dark Knights of Steel #3
Suicide Squad #11
In other words, pretty much the same as this week.
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