January Solicitations. New Secret Six and Wonder Woman. More Books of Magic and Locke & Key.
News
DC Comics January Solicitations
Suicide Squad #67 becomes required reading in more ways than one, as it now forms the first part of a two-parter with Secret Six #17. I’m trying to be annoyed, but it’s still Gail Simone and John Ostrander writing some of the best characters in comics. Unfortunately, Jim Calafiore has been tabbed to draw both issues. He’s not awful, but he’s not very good. As with Carlos Rodriguez on Secret Six #8, the writing’ll have to carry the story. No worries there. Not sure what this means for Peter Nguyen’s stint. Is he only drawing the one issue?
Astro City: The Dark Age – The fourth and final Book begins. Four issues left in a side story that started in 2005.
Joe the Barbarian – Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy with an 8-issue miniseries about a diabetic kid who plays with toys. It’s Vertigo, so there’s magic, and it’s Morrison, so maybe his toys are alive or maybe he’s crazy or maybe both. The first issue’s a buck, so the whole thing’ll be $22, maybe less in trade. Could be good, sure to be weird.
Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover – Finally collected in February, so you can catch all the way up to eight months behind. The price mitigates the wait somewhat; if, like me, you skipped the whole crossover, you can now get all nine issues for $18. That means only six of them have to be good. Still, I can’t see getting back to buying single issues again. I’ll probably get this and wait for the next trade.
The Losers Vol. 1 & 2 – As in both of them together for $20. Twelve issues, 304 pages, highly recommended. Only a $3 savings over the original trades, but those are out of print and it’s a great value regardless.
Madame Xanadu Vol. 2 – Only half as good a deal as the first trade, five issues for $13 is still less than the monthlies cost.
Reviews
Employee’s Pick
[DC] Books of Magic Vol. 2 #57-62
Writers: Peter Gross, Bronwyn Carlton (Books of Faerie, issues 57-59)
Artists: Peter Gross (layouts, issues 57-62; finishes, issues 59-62), Temujin (finishes, issues 57 & 58), Ryan Kelly (Books of Faerie, issue 57; Books of Magic, issue 62), Hermann Mejia (Books of Faerie, issue 58), Andrew Chju (Books of Faerie, issue 59), Linda Medley (Books of Faerie, issue 62)
Well, it couldn’t last, could it? Issue 56 threatened bleakness, and that wasn’t misdirection, much as I hoped. After giving Tim a purpose and some stability, Gross smashes it all to bits and goes on a killing spree, wiping out most of the cast. Tim quickly finds himself out of school and all alone, with no allies. He doesn’t have mind controlling tattoos anymore, but he’s still a bit of a dunce, so we’re not far removed from the awful “touring America” period.
I’m sick of it. I own a dozen more issues, so I might as well read those, but if things continue this way I’m giving up on Tim Hunter. I shouldn’t have remembered Rieber’s run so fondly, nor had hope for future writers dealing with damaged goods. This is nowhere near the comic I thought it’d be from the early issues, and it’s probably safe to say it never will be. The best parts of this six-issue block are the Books of Faerie backups by Bronwyn Carlton in four issues, particularly the first two. The main story is all about knocking Tim down to the lowest point possible. Arguably not a bad choice, and I’m sure he’ll recover somewhat, but it all strikes me as senseless. He was already hovering over rock bottom when Gross took over. Why prop him up just to knock him down harder than before? I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that if adversity is good for heroes, extreme adversity is necessarily extremely good. It’s extremely adverse, that’s the only constant. If you kill everyone on the planet except the hero, it might inspire him to beat the baddie, but now he’s miserable and everyone else is dead.
There’s too much of that in comics. No one gets to be happy because happiness doesn’t build character. Only it does, in moderation. Victims of child abuse often become abusers themselves, but how often do we see happy or “normal” childhoods for so-called heroes? It’s more inspiring to see a good example. You want some darkness in your life, but an overwhelming amount will overwhelm most people. Revenge is a poor reason to fight evil. That’s right, Batman, you’re part of the problem. Without a Robin in your life, you grow ludicrously grim and lead others astray. It’s worst when you’re written well. Then it becomes all too easy for writers to ask why other characters aren’t more like you. Why can’t Aquaman be cool like Batman? Superman should get off Cooties Lane and snap Luthor’s neck after the bald bastard kills Jimmy Olsen. He’d be a much better hero then.
Not that Tim’s borne any resemblance to a hero in ages. Thomas Currie isn’t kidding when he says his Tim, technically a facsimile, is better than the real thing. Stronger, wiser, more heroic. If not for the arbitrary rule that precludes anyone but the one true Tim Hunter defeating The Other, he’d have triumphed the first time. Really, The Other would never have reached him to start with, except destiny. Protagonist must fight antagonist, no use mussing things up with a naturally flowing story. Accept the natural order, lie back, and think of England.
New-Type Books
[DC] Secret Six Vol. 4 #14
Writer: Gail Simone
Pencilers: Nicola Scott, Carlos Rodriguez
Creepy opening sequence. I think Simone made a conscious effort to avoid making Catman say “Get to da choppa!” Jeannette reveals her reason for hating the Amazons. It’s a good one, but apparently she has no history with them, so her hate is shallow.
This issue, the conclusion of the five part Depths, takes all my doubts about the storyline, puts them in a box, and stomps on that box. Mercilessly. It throws in more just to have something else to crush to death. The three panel sequence with Deadshot telling himself and Ragdoll that it’s their job to kill their friends is perfect. Whatever opinion I had of Bane before, it doesn’t matter. Drug addict? Plot device? No. Bane is the man. Simone has made him one of my favorite characters in the DCU, and that won’t easily be undone. He’s part of my Ideal Six, along with the Core Four and Knockout. Sorry, Jeannette. I’m not in a hurry to kick you off anymore, but if I had to choose…
Simone finds an important role for everyone, from our “heroes” to the guest stars to the villains. Even background characters get to shine. Anyone looking to write a team book, or any story with a large cast, should read this for pointers. She plays hot potato with the spotlight and refuses to play favorites. Whoever’s turn it is, he gets to contribute.
On the flipside, the issue marks the start of a down period for the art. The pages by Rodriguez are jarring, though he has his moments. The next three issues are by Jim Calafiore and Peter Nguyen. Probably the one after that, too, with Scott unlikely to return before issue 19. It’ll still be an excellent comic, but you’ll miss out on the breathtaking beauty of one of the best pencilers in the business.
[DC] Wonder Woman Vol. 3 #37
Writer: Gail Simone
Penciler: Bernard Chang
This isn’t a team book. Solo books have more room for a steady supporting cast, but the protagonist typically gets the best of everything, and focusing on her and her adventures makes it easy for supporting characters to fall through the cracks. No one’s as important as Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman, and no one else has a permanent presence. Simone has added plenty of strong, compelling characters to the book and nurtured others who were already in place, but it’s Wondy’s world. They just live in it.
If this were a team book, it would be a failure. As it’s not, the differences are forgivable. It makes sense to only use those characters who serve the story, a story that focuses on Wondy. Maybe your favorite aunt makes any family gathering worth attending, but you don’t know what she does when you aren’t around, and it probably doesn’t affect you any more than what some stranger does. Still, it seems a shame that the Battle Gorillas, Etta Candy, the Wonder Girls, etc. can’t find some way into most, if not all, of Diana’s adventures.
One character appears for a single panel and does nothing. Others aren’t seen, heard, or mentioned. Donna Troy makes a significant appearance, but by the time the mind control wears off, her role in this issue is finished. There’s also the problem of her being tied up in Blackest Night. This story is clearly meant to pick up from her previous appearance in Wonder Woman, where she flew off in a huff and wasn’t seen for months. I don’t think we’re meant to believe she was honing her hatred of Diana that whole time, but she was mad enough to come back solely to fight her. From what I’ve seen of Blackest Night: Titans, I’m guessing this takes place before the whole miniseries, and surely before the final issue, which shipped the same week. You probably don’t need to read this series to understand any of that series, but it’s going to look a bit weird when Donna’s here next issue with no mention of the events in the mini. She was probably the most deeply effected character, physically and emotionally, in Blackest Night: Titans. It’s like having Diana show up in JLA and talk about “Amazon” this and “my sisters” that, like she didn’t just have a dramatic change in her status quo. Maybe she can call on Zeus for strength, too. So, this story has to take place before Blackest Night, if only
by hours, but there’s no mention of it in the comic.
Which brings me to the Bana-Mighdall. They’re back. If you’re wondering where Artemis and friends have been, you aren’t reading Secret Six. If you aren’t reading Secret Six, tough luck. There’s no explanation, no recap page, no editor’s note pointing you to the rest of the story. The Bana-Mighdall are back. They were gone. That’s all you get. Diana was guesting in Secret Six for a few issues, but there’s no mention of that, either. The Bana have the excuse that they only appear on one page here and have no dialogue, Diana doesn’t. We might get something next issue about Diana having a hand in freeing the Bana, which would be nice for WW-only readers who are given no indication whatsoever of that fact.
To be fair, it’s not terribly important how the Bana got here, nor is some transient change to Donna that won’t be relevant a year from now. The former, at least, is a good story, and Simone saw fit to tell that story elsewhere. It’s right over there, you can almost reach it… if you know it exists. Recap page, DC. Seriously. Or bring back editor’s notes. You know you want to, in your heart of hearts.
You wouldn’t know it, but I enjoyed this issue. The good outweighs the bad, but the bad’s more fun to pick at. Ares shows up to confirm the dumbest part of Rise of the Olympian. I disbelieve. There’s schemery afoot. That’s always fun. Diana and Donna making up after their fight is heartwarming. Wish they’d spend more time together.
The cover credits Aaron Lopresti, but aside from that lovely cover image, his pencils are nowhere to be found. I wish companies wouldn’t do that. I think it’s less dishonesty than laziness, but the artist deserves to have his name on the cover, and the buyer deserves accuracy in those sparse cover credits. You’ll always need to open the book to get the full cast and crew, and it doesn’t hurt to check if the artist is having a bad month, but the cover has its uses. Cover art is designed to attract – fair enough. So are cover logos and, really, anything else. Different elements of a cover can attract or repel different segments of the buying public. Some gravitate toward good art. Some are drawn in by that endangered beast the dialogue/caption cover, where you’re given a preview of the story or a clever joke. Some look for familiar creators. The wrong name on a cover shouldn’t be why anyone picks a comic up. Maybe they’ll be pleasantly surprised, or maybe they’ll never give that series a chance again. Some of us are buying the comic anyways, like the past twentysomething issues, and would like to know who’s really drawing the book without needing the art to tell us. Ideally, solicitations would get it right to start with and we’d all know months in advance, but obviously, things happen. It’s not hard to change one name, though. The company has plenty of notice, more than enough to get it right on the interior credits and, usually, on the cover.
Anyways, Chang does a fine job filling in. He’s improved since his first issue, and his style has grown on me to the point where I find the differences between his and Lopresti’s art more endearing than offputting. Still, there are pages that needed Lopresti, like the splash page of Diana flying, the dramatic impact of which is sapped by subpar pencils. The suiting-up scene directly before it could scarcely be better, and Chang handles body language well. Between him, Lopresti, and inker Matt Ryan, the art has stayed consistently above average without the Dodsons. Few series are this lucky.
Trade
[IDW] Locke & Key Volume 2: Head Games
Writer: Joe Hill
Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez
If you haven’t read the first volume, that’s your new mission. You’ll need to start there if anywhere, and this review’ll get a bit spoilery.
If you have read the first volume, you know one of the people who tried to kill the Locke family is now masquerading as their friend. It’s creepy as Hell. You know he’s up to no good, but the Lockes have no idea. He takes every advantage, hanging out, buying them ice cream, all the while plotting his twisted, evil plots of evil, twisty plotness. Oooh! I hate him.
Where the first volume focused more on the Locke family and their attempt to survive, this one plants them in relative safety in order to focus on the Keys. Particularly the Head Key, which allows one to add or remove knowledge in one’s head. As you can imagine, it isn’t long before this ability is used for questionable and downright evil purposes, the effects of which will be felt for the rest of the series. Near the back of the book, there’s an abridged origin for the six known Keys that suggests history is repeating itself. The Keys might not be inherently evil, but it seems like the Locke family have been cursed for centuries. That or human nature makes the power of the Keys more bane than blessing.
History is the other focus here. We don’t get much, not nearly enough. There’s a whole story in what happened to the previous generation of Lockes and their friends thanks to the Keys, in what led to the events unfolding in present day. It’s a mystery, so we aren’t allowed to have it all at once. Frustrating, but in a good way. I’m confident Hill has a clear direction in mind; everything he’s revealed so far has fit together, and there aren’t any convoluted ubermysteries that are so built up as to render the solution a certain disappointment. The characters drive the story, not the mystery; you keep reading to see what happens to them as much as why it’s happening. Eager as I am to learn what the main villain is after and all the backstory, it’s merely a bonus.
You have one story that more or less stands alone. It’s dependent on past events, but so are they all. Then you have one or two or several other stories about previous generations, and aside from being a bit repetitive, they’re all interesting. I love legacy stories like this. Hill has crafted a new world with the simple introduction of a handful of magic keys. I wonder what I would do with them, were I young enough to use them – one thing I don’t care for is Hill uses that old storytelling device where magic fades from the minds of adults. Only kids can use the Keys or see their more astonishing effects. That helps to isolate the younger characters, making their plight that much scarier, so it’s not all bad. I’ve just never cared for age-based amnesia. But hey, this isn’t a happy fun time story. It’s horror, and there’s some chance that the Keys, or whatever force is behind them, want it that way for some evil reason. Easier to prey on kids, and easier to hide your existence from the world at large, like how aliens only abduct crazy people.
Truncation
Books of Magic – Grr. Dark. Kill maim kill some more.
Secret Six – How can a series about bloodthirsty villains who can talk about properly skinning a human being with a straight face… be so happy? It has a warm fuzzies quotient to rival kids’ books, yet there’s no mistaking it’s a dark comic about not nice people.
Wonder Woman – A recap page or editor’s notes would help. This and Secret Six had a more meaningful, albeit one-sided, crossover than most, yet it’s mentioned as little as possible.
Locke & Key – I think, in the end, I’ll regret reading this. It’s disturbing and likely headed in a dark direction. But it’s so good, I have to find out.
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