The NOW THAT'S A COMIC BOOK, OK.... THERE'S SOMETHING HERE and WHY'D I BUY THAT? reviews of new comics that were shipped on 03.07.2012. Usually it's the end of the month that holds all the gems, but the beginning of March has blown my mind. Everything was sooooo good! For this week: Clark is forced into choosing between Kandor and Metropolis, but gets his "new" suit, the history of "the Kingdom," Fraction gets down right beautifully creepy, "Infinite Oppenheimers" and the return of Swamp Thing.
NOW THAT'S A COMIC BOOK!
ACTION COMICS #7
NOW THAT'S A COMIC BOOK!
ACTION COMICS #7
SUPERMAN'S DOOMSDAY DECISION - The flagship title of THE DC NEW 52. Grant Morrison and Rags Morales are proving to be the perfect creative team and have made fans pay attention to this title for the first time in years. Rags Morales is quickly proving once again he is an exceptional artist and possibly the best artist to have worked with Morrison on a consistent basis. Quietly is probably the better overall artist to have worked with Morrison, but Morales actually keeps up with Morrison's demanding output. This issue gives new meaning to "look up in the sky...."
ANIMAL MAN #7
ANIMAL VS MAN: PT 1 - One of the best horror comic on the stands! Jeff Lemire continues to push the boundaries of his writing territory. He is one of a few writers to be able to transcend super heroes into multiple genres and make it work. He did the same with SUPERBOY by adapting Superboy to his ESSEX COUNTY style. Good comic writing is all about adapting the character to the genre, rather than genre to the character. A fellow by the the name of Alan Moore was very successful at doing this very thing with SWAMP THING, LEAGUE OF EXTORDINARY GENTLEMEN, V FOR VENDETTA, KILLING JOKE etc etc. Jeff Lemire is the writer to watch out for. Bigger things on the way from this talent and a soon to be treasured Canadian writer. The best writers and artists in the industry always seem to be British or Canadian.
BATWING #7
"BUT THERE WERE CONSEQUENCES FOR US" - If you have seen the viral campaign about Kony the African warlord, this book captures the plight of the African people under warlords in a very humane and as realistic as possible context (we are dealing with super heroes after all). The main character Batwing, is a rehabilitated child soldier and you are immediately introduced to the world of child soldiering. So, outside of the usual Batman style super heroics this comic really touches on the violence being perpetrated on the people of Africa and treats a very complicated situation with the utmost respect and sensitivity. I think that is why I really enjoy this comic, because there is an attempt here to bring the positive example fictional super heroes can represent to cultures and people that are in need of them the most and drawing attention in North America to a horrible situation that has been ignored for to long. Kudos to Winick for creating such a rich and contextualized origin for Africa's premier super hero team, THE KINGDOM. This is not just another Bat-book and Dustin Nguyen is welcome to provide artwork for a Bat-book anytime, but please come back Ben Oliver.
DEFENDERS #4
MISFITS 1: STRANGE/THE FRENCH DROP - I would really like Michael Lark to stay as artist on this book for as long as possible, but alas just for this issue. With this issue Lark completely caught the atmosphere that was being set for this issue by Fraction. What are the consequences for bringing a loved one back from the dead when there seem to be none? Fraction again proves his writing cred by creating a story both creepy, haunting and beautiful all in the same moment. This comic has more depth to it than first expected and long may it run under Matt Fraction's pen.
THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS #1 OF 4
The title does not lie. There are literally infinite Oppenheimers. Jonathan Hickman's work is always at it's best with his indie work. This was the craziest, bloodiest, eviliest and mind bogglingiest (sorry I'm inventing words now) comic from Hickman yet. I'm not sure what happened or where the series will go, but I was left with the feeling this was MARS ATTACKS!, Ellis' TRANSMETROPOLITAN and Grant Morrison's DOOM PATROL all rolled into one. Nick Patarra is quickly becoming a very hot artistic commodity. Highly recommend fans checking out Hickman and Pitarra's THE RED WING available in graphic novel.
SWAMP THING #7
The issue you have been waiting for... THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING! Finally, a writer has come along to add something credible and necessary to the Swamp Thing character besides Alan Moore. When Scott Snyder's run of SWAMP THING ends (I hope he writes this title for years) I have the feeling he will have had the definitive say on Swamp Thing or at least as equally important as what Alan Moore did with the character. Plus, Yancik Paquette is becoming a Canadian treasure. Paquette vibrantly brings this violent, but beautiful world to life. Lemire and Paquette need to find themselves working together someday. The birth of titles such as SWAMP THING and ANIMAL MAN are the reasons I support what DC has done with their NEW 52. Life has been breathed into the DCU. Take a deep breath and enjoy!
Now that was one amazing week in comics. Too many comics to get to, so check the blog's right hand column for the covers of the many fine issues that were available for 03.07.2012.
Cheers for reading!
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