Missed going to The Great Escape last week...and wasn't really feeling much pressure to do so since I now have a Holds Box going again...so I get double the comics this week. Those comics being:
Buffy: The Last Vampire Slayer #3 (which I'm hoping to get for free courtesy of hoopla), Detective Comics #1051 & #1052, Dark Knights of Steel #4, Hardware: Season One #4, Justice League 2022 Annual #1 (it's got OMAC), Suicide Squad #12.Well. Hardware is now up for release February 22 2022. Big surprise there, as I can't remember the last time that a Milestone book came out when it was supposed to. And no Buffy #3 on hoopla yet, but hey, it's only been two days since it hit the stands, so maybe it will show up.
Meanwhile...
I really enjoyed both issues of Detective Comics. Again, there was very little Batman...and what there was was in flashback. So the "B" Team (heh heh) steps up. I don't really know all of these characters, but it's easy to follow. And in the second issue (#1052), writer Mariko Tamaki does a very clever thing, wherein she loops the story back into an earlier moment in #1051, then follows a different story thread. It's a bit disorienting at first, but I liked the effect. And no, it's not all that unique, but the point is that it's put to very good effect here...and there's actually a reason for doing it this way (as opposed to the Let Me Show You What A Clever Writer I Am motivation). Also, the cover of #1052 is pretty fantastic. Here, have a look:
I don't know that I've ever seen a Batarang with such a highly reflective surface before, but hey, I don't really care about that. I wish it didn't have all that writing on it, for sure, but even with it, this cover is really amazing. (And without it...
Yeah? That's what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, Virgin Covers are a bit pricey, so I'll just have to deal with the words. (But really...did we have to have an ad for The Batman movie there? I mean...anyone even vaguely interested in Detective Comics is (1) already quite knowledgeable about this movie and (2) already saving his or her or their shekels up. It's like putting for an ad for a Big Mac on a Big Mac. Come on, DC. Be Best.
Dark Knights of Steel continues to interest me 2th issue #4. And yes, my guess after reading #3 that Green Lantern was going to become involved proved to be correct...but not in the way I imagined it. Far from it, actually. Which is cool. This title continues to interest me. Which is surprising, as I almost didn't pick it up, thinking that I'd already "seen that movie." Some very interesting twists to this story make it well worth reading, and the art continues to be interesting and beautiful and different.
I did end up buying the Justice League 2022 Annual, thinking that if Omac was there, there might be a little Kamandi as well. Short version: there wasn't. And the story was a little too cute by half. One of those time travels things which are almost always unsatisfying because the logic just breaks down, doesn't it? The art, on the other hand, was quite interesting. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought that it was Paul Pope, and as he is one of my all time favorite artists, that's high praise indeed. Too bad that Sanford Greene (the Not Paul Pope artist) didn't have a better story to work from. The story, by the way, was by Brian Michael Bendis, who manages to turn pretty much everything he touches into tapioca pudding so far as I'm concerned. (Which I don't consider to be a good thing.)
And last but not least, Suicide Squad #12. It took me awhile to get around to reading this, because on a run-through glance I saw that there was very little Ambush Bug. Well. The only reason I'm buying this book is Ambush Bug. So I'm actually hoping that they take him out of the roster rotation soon so I can stop buying this book...cause it's just an average, dopey, uninspired comic book so far as I can see. If you're not as addicted to Ambush Bug as I am, there's no reason to buy this issue.
I also took a dip in the LFPL comics pool this week and picked up (and read) Tom King (and Jorge Fornés)'s Rorschach. I was interested in this title when I first saw it on the stands, but out of loyalty to Alan Moore I refrained from buying it when I saw it on the stands. Well, out of loyalty to Alan Moore and out of a sincere belief that DC would fuck this up royally, to be honest. (Before Watchmen, anyone?) But when I saw it at the library, I figured there'd be no harm in checking it out.
And I was surprised at what was going on. For one thing, it doesn't disrupt Alan Moore's continuity. Rorschach is dead. It's not really about him. It's about mental illness and hero worship and a society that has no respect for anyfuckingthing. In other words, it's about U.S. in the 21st Century. The art often seems to be mimicking Dave Gibbons' work on Watchmen, but there are some great touches here and there, like this mock-up of a comic book starring Pontius Pirate (surely someone is chagrinned about that name choice?)--
--which is a clever parody of the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15
Speaking of which, I knew that this cover illustration was some kind of collaboration between Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko...and I can definitely see Jack Kirby's style, especially in the positions of the two characters, the angle of the shot, the way the buildings are drawn...but I did not realize that the pencils were all Jack Kirby, and that Steve Ditch was just the inker. (Well, "just," I know, but still... it's the penciller who plays the biggest part, especially with a picture like this wherein there's no elaborate detail.)
Anyway. Rorschach wasn't great, but it was worth reading. But I am glad that I didn't have to pay for the privilege.
Also in the LFPL comics pool...
So I'll finally get to see the first part of the story I thought I was getting the first part of when I bought Fantastic Four #36.
And? Oh, man. If I'd read these stories before #36, I never would have gotten to #36. Which is funny, since I've been enjoying my run on FF. But this stuff is just shit. SO glad that I didn't pay for these books. Thank you, Public Library.
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