That, by the way, is a non-powered Superman about to get his ass handed to him by Mongul. And after he gets knocked down? Well, he gets back up. Because he's fucking Superman, man. If you have ever thought--as I have--that it was impossible to write a good Superman story these days...because it's all been done, because he's so powerful that it's ridiculous, because he's the most over-exposed character in the history of comic books, whatEVER...then you should check out this book. I don't know who Shawn Aldridge is or what he's done before writing Action Comics, but he is a kick ass writer, for sure.
Detective Comics #1054 Well...this was the first comic book I peeled off of the stack this week. I'm sorry to say that neither the cover nor the interior art on the main feature was up to par this time out. This was the fourth (and presumably final) issue for Max Raynor, however, and I have to wonder if he isn't just pooped out. That's definitely not true for writer Mariko Tamaki, though. Her story continues to clip along, and I found the confrontation between Nightwing and to be quite entrancing. The second string Bat Crew have handled this situation quite well. In fact, it's hard to imagine how Batman (who makes no appearance in the main story this time out) could have done anything that the B Team didn't. I'm a bit puzzled...in a good way...at the fact that this is Part 8 of "The Tower," as that means that we are only 2/3rds of the way through the story. That obviously means that we have some big twist and / or turn to go. I'm definitely down for the ride...and hoping that when this weekly version of Detective ends there'll be reason for me to continue with the book, 'cause I'm really enjoying it. The back up feature continues to be very interesting...and the art--by Fernando Blanco--is excellent...kind of John Paul Leon (which is about as big a compliment as I have to give).
Hardware: Season One #4 Another excellent issue here. Love the art by Cowan and Sienkiewicz. (I especially love the fact that it's easy to tell that Sienkiewicz is the inker. In fact, there are even some panels which look like pure Sienkiewicz. There are times when I might complain about an inker being "heavy-handed," but this is certainly not one of those times. In fact, I think of it more as being that Cowan & Sienkiewicz are co-artists rather than just the traditional penciller / inker team.) And Brandon Thomas is doing a good job with the writing. My only complaint about this title...and all of the Milestone titles...is sporadic publication. Check this out: Issue #1 came out 8/10/21. Issue #2 came out 10/12/21. That's a two month gap. Issue #3 came out 11/30/21, a six week gap. And this Issue, #4, came out 2/22/22...just a tad shy of a three month gap. Issue #5 is scheduled for a 4/5/22 release. Another six week gap. And that's assuming that it comes out on time. That is a great way to frustrate comic book readers. Look at it this way: if this book had come out on a monthly schedule, which seems like a reasonable expectation, then the series would have been completed a month and a half ago. Instead we're looking at another three months before we get to the end...which means that the six issue series has taken 9 months. To me it's worth the wait, but I'm a patient old man. I don't know if the typical comic book reader is willing to put up with that kind of shit.
Saga #56 How much do I love Saga? Well, I'll tell you. I didn't get to the comic book store "on time" this week (actually I rarely do, since "on time" would mean Wednesday, when the new comics hit the stands, and I have zero free time for most daylit hours on Wednesdays), and (much to my surprise) I saw this book...this brand new comic book...up on hoopla on that very day. I could have read it. For free. But I didn't. I waited until I could get to The Great Escape on Sunday morning, sneaking a trip in between church and late lunch. And it was worth it. In more ways than one. The price on this comic remains at $2.99, for instance. It's 22 pages of story and art...uninterrupted by ads. It even has a letters page! And most importantly, it's a really good story.
I also picked up the current issue of Previews this week...but the exciting part there is the DC Comics insert, on the cover of which is the announcement that the Milestone comic book Blood Syndicate is returning! Here's hoping they can get it out on a monthly schedule.
Next Week:
Detective Comics #1055
Dark Knights of Steel #5 Also, might pick up Dark Knights of Steel: The Gathering Storm #1, which reprints the first three issues of the title. Which I already have, but...well, you'd have to be a comic book guy/girl to understand the why of that.
I'll be passing on Fantastic Four #41 as it veers off into a big crossover event. And I think that's it for me and the FF for now. It's been fun, guys. Well...kind of. A little bit of, anyway.
Pretty sure that I'm through with Suicide Squad as of #13, too. I guess if Ambush Bug shows up again I'll try it out, but he was barely an afterthought in the previous issue, and I really don't care about anything else in the book at all.
I don't really know what War For Earth-3 #1 is about, but I will be taking a peek at that. ***BULLETIN, BULLETIN, BULLETIN, THIS IS A BULLETIN, BULLETIN, BULLETIN: Just saw that this is not a new series, but the first issue in a story arc which continues in Suicide Squad #13, then The Flash #780, then Teen Titans Academy #13, and then ends in War For Earth-3 #2. So we can definitely scratch that title off of my list...and probably Suicide Squad, too.
Hmpf. Looks like I've swung back to being pretty much a DC guy again. Not by design, it just kind of worked out that way.
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