Monday, February 20, 2017
Happy Family Day. Some folks will have this day off but it’s too bad that the warm weather has forced the Rideau Canal Skateway to close down. I walked by it yesterday on my urban hike and it was a stretch of puddles. It was a beautiful warm sunny day as I walked home along Bank Street from Waverley to just south of Heron Road lugging a bunch of books that I borrowed from my partner Chris. It was so nice that not even an oblivious driver splashing me head to toe could wipe the smile off of my face for long.
Gamora #3 – Nicole Perlman (writer) Marco Checchetto (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC’s Travis Lanham (letters). Nicole pulls out a deus ex machina to make me want to read the next issue. So now Gamora has something in common with L’Wit, the last member of the Badoon Royal Family. Made me wonder if Gamora will let the princess live. We’ll see.
Super Sons #1 – Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Jorge Jimenez (art) Alejandro Sanchez (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). I would have called this new book World’s Tweenest. I was happy to see this team-up of Damian Wayne/Robin and Jonathan Kent/Superboy hit the racks because I’m a fan of Peter’s stint on Batman and Robin. The first two pages piqued my curiosity before showing us what trouble the two boys have gotten themselves into. I was still wondering what those first two pages were about by the time I got to the last page uh-oh moment. I hope this doesn’t wind up with Batman and Superman coming to the rescue. That would disappoint me. I really like these two kids and hope they have a long run.
Cerebus in Hell? #1 – Dave Sim (writer) Gustave Dore (pencils) Dante Alighieri (inks) Sandeep Atwal (colours) Dave Sim (letters). I moved to Vancouver in late 1979 and one of the first comic books that I bought at The Comicshop was Cerebus #1. I remember picking it off the spinner rack and looking at that red cover with Cerebus drawn like Conan by Dave Sim. I sold my copy years later to a kid from Gibsons during the counterfeit Cerebus number ones scams. My big selling point was that it was authentic and probably one of the very few copies that Dave Sim had not autographed. I faithfully read every issue of Cerebus until the book got too political for me even though I loved Dave and Gerhard’s art. I never did finish the run. Here we have Cerebus back on the racks forty years after issue #1 hit and Dave uses Gustav’s Dante’s Inferno prints with Cerebus superimposed to tell some jokes. I kind of snickered once. There are three more issues to come out and I will read those too just to support poor old Dave.
Mighty Thor #16 – Jason Aaron (writer) Russell Dauterman (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC’s Joe Sabino (letters). Part two of “The Asgard/Shi’Ar War” had Thor being challenged by the Shi’Ar gods Sharra and K’ythri and the Asgardian Bor being challenged by the Lady Sif. I love the massive scale of Jason’s stories in this book. It’s befitting a comic book about mythical gods. Russell’s art is just beautiful to behold.
Batwoman #1 – Marguerite Bennett & James Tynion IV (writer) Steve Epting (art) Jeromy Cox (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). This is a fantastic first issue introducing the hero to fans old and new. If you’ve been reading the latest Detective Comics you’ll already know what Kate Kane is up to but still the last page surprised me. This new Bat book is going on my “must read” list.
Kill or be Killed #6 – Ed Brubaker (writer) Sean Phillips (art) Elizabeth Breitweiser (colours). Quite a clever way that Ed came up with for Dylan to deal with the surprise of being seen by the police. I like how the dominoes are being set up for them to eventually fall all over Dylan’s life.
Monsters Unleashed #3 – Cullen Bunn (writer) Leinil Francis Yu (pencils) Gerry Alanguilan & Michael Jason Paz (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC’s Travis Lanham (letters). Well then, that explains everything. We find out why monsters are falling from the sky and given a hint to how the heroes are going to save the planet. The Inhumans play a big part in the plot.
Batman #17 – Tom King (writer) David Finch (pencils) Danny Miki (inks) Jordie Bellaire (colours) John Workman (letters). How the heck did Damian, Dick and Jason wind up there? I hate when stuff isn’t explained from one issue to the next. In part 2 of “I Am Bane” Batman finds out that he can’t protect everyone he cares for when Bane gets to Gotham City. The bad guy wants the Psycho Pirate back and he will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. This is intense.
Wild Storm #1 – Warren Ellis (writer) John Davis-Hunt (art) Ivan Plascencia (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). We haven’t seen these Wildstorm characters on the racks for quite a while now so it’s okay for Warren to take them and make them into something new. I used to be a big fan of Jim Lee’s line of comic books so all these people seem familiar but they have been changed enough to make me interested to see how different they are. I would describe this book as corporate warfare. I want to see how the good guys and bad guys shake out so I’m going to keep reading.
Doctor Strange #17 – Jason Aaron (writer) Frazer Irving (art) VC’s Cory Petit (letters). This is an issue of “Where’s Wong?”. The inscrutable manservant is missing and the sanctum is in disarray. Poor Steve is worried sick.
Superman #17 – Peter J. Tomas & Patrick Gleason (writers) Sebastian Fiumara (art) Dave Stewart (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). This is a great one issue story but Superman fans may be disappointed because the big guy isn’t in it. Young Jonathan Kent helps his friend Kathy look for her grandpa in Deadman’s Swamp. Boston Brand does not show up but something spooky this way comes. I really like Jon and I’m glad they feature him solo every now and then. I don’t think that he should have his own book though, but I won’t be surprised to see DC put out a Superboy comic book on the racks some day.
Clone Conspiracy #5 – Dan Slott (writer) Jim Cheung (pencils) John Dell, Jay Leisten & Jim Cheung (inks) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC’s Joe Caramagna (letters). “Dead No More” ends with some of the bad guys alive no more. Sure as web shootin’ Peter and Anna save the day. Now we’ll see what the fallout to the Jackal’s nefarious scheme will be.
Invincible Iron Man #4 – Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Stefano Caselli (art) Marte Gracia (colours) VC’s Clayton Cowles (letters). This is a super fantastic all out action issue with Riri and Pepper Potts fighting Tomoe the Techno Golem and her ninjas. The bad guy is an Inhuman who can take over tech and she has control of both girls’ armour. This issue goes a mile a minute but it’s paced so well that you don’t feel like you got ripped off with a five minute read. Stefano draws the best eyes.
Punisher #9 – Becky Cloonan (writer) Matt Horak (art) Frank Martin (colours) VC’s Cory Petit (letters). Here’s another comic book where the star is hardly in it. This issue features DEA agent Ortiz and the bad guy Face. I’m excited for the next issue because Frank goes to Canada, our home and native land.
Spider-Man #13 – Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Sara Pichelli (art) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC’s Cory Petit (letters). We find out more about what happened in Spider-Gwen’s dimension in “Sitting in a Tree” part 3. The suspense would normally be killing me but Miles is telling the story to Ganke and Fabio so we know that he’s okay. I still want to know if he and Earth-65 Gwen have a thing. This is turning out to be a major crossover with Spider-Gwen so I will be reading the next two issues of that book to get the full story. As Brian is fond of making his characters say, “aargg!”.