Looks like I'm not the only one who was interested in Detective Comics #1047. There were only two copies of it left on the stands today, both of them the $1 Extra Cardstock Cover variety. I wouldn't spend $5.99 on too many comics these days, but I figured that I'd better snatch this up, just in case more copies didn't come in.
The lead story was 20 pages long, the first installment of "The Tower." Short version: Arkham Asylum is no more, and Gotham City now sports Arkham Tower to house its criminally insane. Kind of a stupid premise, but hey, it IS a comic book, after all, so you've got to give them a little rope.
This story was written by Mariko Tamaki, pencils by Ivan Reis, and inks by Danny Miki. The cover for this version was by Lee Bermejo. Sorry to say that I've never cared much for Mr. Bermejo's work. It's good, but it always feels ugly to me...which is not what I want in a comic book cover. The interior work ranged from okay to quite good. In fact, there was at least one panel that reminded me of Neal Adams, and you really can't get a better compliment than that in my book. And despite the lack of Batman--he appears in one panel, a flashback which shows a back shot of him in action--it was pretty good. Come to think of it, there really wasn't a whole lot of any of the heroic side of the cast here. There's a bit of Batwoman, a bit of Batgirl, and a quick glimpse of Nightwing and references to Huntress and Oracle... but I think that was it. This was primarily about how the whole building Arkham Tower idea was kind of shit and everything is blowing apart. With some nasty stuff on the side of the bad guys... like cutting off a person's finger before throwing him off the top of the tower. Or somewhere near the top. So...good enough to buy the next issue...which comes out next week. (The series has gone weekly for the next three months.) I'm hoping to get the regular version next time, though. For one thing, the regular covers to this series (by Irvin Rodriguez) are superb. For another thing, I want to save the extra buck next time out.
Oh, there's also a back-up story. A ten pager entitled "House of Gotham" (Chapter One) by Matthew Rosenberg and Fernando Blanco. And all of the nasty stuff I said about back-up stories last time out? Doesn't apply here. This was a good piece of work, a little story about The Joker coming after someone and Batman arriving on the scene too late to do any good. It also loops into Arkham Asylum, so I'm wondering if this story will eventually dovetail into the main storyline. Kind of like what they did at the end of Season Four of Fargo. (Speaking of...what a great season that was. I can't believe that the audience for this show has fallen from a first season high of 2.6+ million to significantly less than 1 million. It's fuckin' BRILLiant. Plus it features Chris Rock AND Andrew Bird. What do people want, for fuck's sake?) So yeah, two good reasons to pick up this title. If you can find it.
Dark Knights of Steel #3 Okay, I now feel that I can safely say that I love this book. Tom Taylor is at his best here, filtering the top DC heroes...plus a few unexpected surprises...through the lens of a medieval setting. This time around, we get Amanda Waller (pretty sure this is her first appearance), Metal Men, and (I'm pretty sure though not positive) Green Lantern. And that's in addition to Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Black Lightning, Supergirl, Alfred, Robin, and Harley Quinn. And wonder of wonders, the story actually makes sense. I was showing some panels of this issue to my son, who immediately asked me who the bad guys were. (He likes to break it down into the stark good and evil...which is usually the way to go with a comic book.) And you know...I couldn't tell him. There are characters who have done some awful things, for sure...but in each case, those actions were motivated in believable ways. I don't think that there is a bad guy in this book. Also, the art is just wonderful. The best of it is the cover, which, so far as I can tell, is completely the work of Yasmine Putri. She does most of the work on the interiors as well (pencils and inks), but shares the credit for the color with Arif Prianto. Last time out the coloring bothered me, and I guessed that that was Arif's "fault," but this time around it looks good to me, so maybe I was mistaken...or maybe he was just finding his feet on this book. At any rate...this is a must buy book. I might even be tempted to buy it again when it's collected if the packaging is right...as I'd like to see this story get the deluxe treatment.
Suicide Squad #11 Had to buy the cardstock version of this book, too...but at least it was only $4.99. I actually wanted the cardstock this time around, though, because while the regular cover is nice enough, and does show Ambush Bug...
And? Well...AB only appeared in 8 of the 86 panels in this book, which isn't much...but the metafictional aspect he brings to the book is amusing, and is pretty much all that distinguishes this book from any other superhero comic, so yes, it was worth it. The story itself? Well...I don't really care. Some guys punched some other guys in the face repeatedly. The art was okay...although I found the "inventive" breakdowns a bit distracting...and not in a good way (if distracting is ever good, that is). It's all 'bout that Bug, 'bout that Bug, no trouble .
Usagi Yojimbo #24 Well, shit. I bought this comic book a month ago. Didn't recognize the cover, and was so excited to find a "new" Usagi Yojimbo that I didn't open it up to check the contents, so I didn't realize I'd already bought and read it until I looked at the first panel. You know, there was a day when I remembered every cover of every book I bought. (As a matter of fact, I can still remember a lot of the covers of the books I bought as a kid...and sold for a pittance a half-century ago.) Sigh. This is what comes of not going to The Great Escape every week, man.
The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Well...it's a $40 book. Which is a whole lot of money. But (1) I've been waiting for this for a very long time...ever since the first installments appeared in the otherwise absolutely terrible comic book, Glamourpuss, in 2008 (!). (2) It's by Dave Sim. (3) The Great Escape gave me 25% off, so it was only a $30 book. And I don't have time to read the whole thing right now, but I'm going to start nibbling at it. And I did have a quick run through it, and I have to say that it looks quite lovely. I saw a review online which said it was "Comics' answer to Finnegan's Wake" (Rob Salkowitz, Forbes) which seems a bit much, but we'll see. At any rate, I'm already glad that I went for this, as it looks like a very nice piece of work. I wonder why it didn't come out from IDW as was previously announced, though. The publisher, Living the Line, doesn't seem to have been at it long: their online store only shows 8 products, 4 of which are different versions of The Strange Death of Alex Raymond (hardcover, PDF & CBZ file, Signed, and Mock-Ups), and the other 4 are 3 different versions something called You Don't Know Jack (and I, for one, don't care) and The Secret History of the Counterfeit Cerebus, which I might actually be interested in if it weren't 24 pages for $15. Since I've already read pieces of Alex Raymond, I feel sure that it's going to be worth my time and money, and I suspect that it won't be around long (The Great Escape only had one copy of it, and it just came in), so if you want it, here it is, but you better 'cause it might not last.
Speaking of Dave Sim...I went online to see what I could see with respect to The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, and I found a video wherein The Dave himself is talking about an essay entitled "When Did You Stop Reading Cerebus?" by Andrew Rilstone--published in book form (if something that's 83 pages long (and only about 50 pages of actual essay) can be considered a book--but also available for free at his website: http://www.andrewrilstone.com/2020/12/1.html. Dave was pretty enthusiastic about this thing, so I will try to give it a read.
Next Week's Comics:
Detective Comics #1048
Fantastic Four #39 (Did I miss an issue of this book?)
Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (I'm interested, but I don't think I'll buy it, as it is a Brian Michael Bendis written thing.)
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