Look, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, Patrick, Drew and Shelby discuss Red Sonja: Berzerker, Winter Soldier: Bitter March 1, Nightwing 28, Legenderry: A Steam Punk Adventure 2, and Green Lantern Corps 28. 

Patrick: Written by Nancy Collins and drawn by Fritz Casas, Red Sonja: Berzerker bears very little resemblance to the Gail Simone and Walter Geovanni series to which I subscribed. The story follows the unlikely friendship between Sonja and a polar bear that she rescued from some viking hunters. After years of living and hunting together in the woods, Sonja leaves her friend and returns to “civilized” society, only to discover that every man wants to degrade, fuck and enslave her. There’s an unnerving amount of sexual harassment and female oppression in this issue — Sonja’s always able to defend herself agains her oppressors, but every single interaction is colored by sexual threats, assumptions that she’s a prostitute and/or liberal use of the word “bitch.” And these shitty dudes keep bringing up the “if you don’t want this attention, why are you dressed like that?” argument, which mirrors the victim-blaming pervasive in our current culture. Collins seems so hell-bent on expressing this idea, which is odd as the whole point of the issue is the relationship between Sonja and this bear, which shows up in the final act to help her escape like the 10 billionth gladiatorial arena scenario Sonja’s found herself trapped in. It’s a muddled story, that tries to make too many points, many gracelessly. But hey, Casas draws a damn cute polar bear cub, so maybe it’s worth it for that.

Because it’d be a damn shame to have Winter Soldier at the movies in a few months and no Winter Soldier comics on the shelves, Rick Remender and Roland Boschi present Winter Soldier: The Bitter March 1, the first in a five-issue mini-series featuring the titular Soldier as the bad guy. It’s 1966, and Nick Fury and Ran Shen are sent to collect some Nazi superscientists from a Hydra stronghold. They’re mostly successful, but run into some problems during their escape — the Winter Soldier intercepts them, seemingly kills Nick Fury and strands Shen and the scientists in the snowy mountains.

This is a pretty slick spy thriller, with just enough Marvel goofiness (Madam Worm) to keep it from collapsing under all the weighty concepts being thrown around (Nazis, the Cold War, global economic collapse). I’m also really digging Boschi’s art, which has a kind of elastic Darwyn Cooke-esque quality to it. The real show stopper is the free-gliding sequence at the end of the issue — the action is exciting and clear, and even with some dumb wings, Winter Soldier looks pretty damn cool.

I don’t have too much experience with Winter Soldier outside of this issue. (I’ve never read the actual WS story in Captain America — sorry.) Drew, do you come at this with a different perception on the character? Was this what you were expecting?

Drew: This was decidedly NOT what I was expecting, which is a very pleasant surprise. I tend to assume that series will follow their titular characters closely — often via first person narration, or at least a close third-person omniscient perspective — which I was wary of going into this series. I also haven’t read Brubaker’s Winter Soldier, but my understanding is that the character wouldn’t benefit from that kind of psychological scrutiny. Instead, Remender delivers the story from the perspective of Ran Shen, which allows the Winter Soldier to take on the larger-than-life role he was really meant for.

That choice also works for me because I’m such a sucker for 60’s spy thrillers. This issue is effectively the climax of a Bond flick that only takes a sharp turn at the very end to reveal the presence of the Winter Soldier. Part of me wishes that this team would sign on to do a ’60s S.H.I.E.L.D. ongoing (Boschi absolutely nails the tone), but I’m excited to see where the chase takes them in this mini.

Speaking of estranged sidekicks and the past coming to bear on the present, writer Kyle Higgins is staging a brilliant farewell in Nightwing 28. The issue acts as a decent retrospective of Higgins’ run — bringing Sonia Branch and even Spinebender back into the fold — but it also addresses concepts more central to Dick as a character. Higgins and artist Russell Dauterman prepare us for these ideas as Spinebender takes the form of Batgirl, Deathstroke, Superman, and Batman — all undeniably important to Dick (though I wonder how Spinebender knows about Nightwing’s history with Deathstroke) — but then bring them up more earnestly as the issue unfolds. Sonia’s appearance acts largely to bring closure to one of this series’ central relationships, but the real emotional dredging comes from someplace unexpected: the kid Dick’s roommate has been babysitting was just orphaned in a mugging.

The parallels to Dick (and Bruce) are obvious, but Higgins takes it a step further, having the girl insist on vengeance. That detail pushes the comparison decidedly more towards Bruce, which flips the brooding mentor/bubbly sidekick dynamic on its ear (in much the same way that Dick’s time as Batman to Damian’s Robin did). That’s a lot of dense emotional baggage, but Higgins leavens it with some intense emotional immediacy: the girl has struck out on her own to seek out her parents’ killer: Mr Zsasz. It’s a shame to see a series this smart on its way out, but I can’t think of a classier way to end than concluding a story this strong. Were you as happy with this issue as I was, Shelby?

Shelby: I was, and though Higgins work was as strong as ever, a lot of my happiness came from Dauterman’s art.

I love that art nouveau-esque style, with the heavy outlines and delicate details. Dauterman is able to render an image that is both graphic and painterly. Plus, that little girl’s hair, I can’t even.

I think it’s a really smart move on Higgins’ part to conclude this title with an arc about Dick having to take the role Bruce took with him so many years ago. Even when Dick took up the mantle of Batman, as far as I’m aware he’s never really been in the position to deal with…well, himself as a child. It’s such an appropriate way to wrap up the title; we get to revisit Dick’s past and the events that made him Robin and eventually Nightwing, and we get to get a look at what he can become in future books.

I did not find Legenderry 2 to be quite as enjoyable. I’m still really digging the steampunk designs; Sergio Fernandez Davila’s Green Hornet and Kato did not disappoint as they sprang into be-goggled action. The plot is interesting enough, too. Bill Willingham has given us some political intrigue, possible dark magic/mad scientist threats, a damsel in distress and a missing, bad-ass sister (I suspect the two might be one in the same, maybe with some amnesia thrown in?). Unfortunately, the dialogue just drags. Everything Brit says reads like a 1940s pulp fiction with a Victorian filter applied. I have no doubt that’s the exact effect Willingham is going for, but I found it both cumbersome and tiresome. What about you, Patrick? You tend to be less enamored with steampunk culture than I, were you as irritated with dialogue?

Patrick: Yeah, the series is cute and all, but outside of the carriage-back fight against identical ninjas, there wasn’t much to this issue. But what the hell am I saying – there’s a carriage-back fight against identical ninjas! One of Willingham’s biggest assets as a write is his ability to actively show the readers what his characters are about – something that a guy like him could just as easily take for granted, what with always borrowing characters. There’s absolutely no abstraction here – it’s a highspeed brawl, where Kato and Green Hornet get to do what they do best: gadgets and punches. Davila presents this action very clearly, and I love this flat, procenium-esque panel that shows the chase at it’s most elemental.

Speaking of just showing characters in their element, I really enjoyed the search for Von Daggle in Green Lantern Corps 28. There’s something so pleasing and simple about chasing a shapeshifter through a crowded market place. Then it’s all punctuated by these moments of stylized violence, with very bold coloring choices by Marcello Maiolo. In fact, he employs some of the same tricks he uses in Andrea Sorrentino’s Green Arrow, utilizing a stark three-color palette to emphasize those more heightened moments. Interestingly, none of those three colors is green. It’s such a simple choice, but it’s amazing how effective it is to lean on other colors in a Green Lantern book.

This is the first issue of the series not to have Robert Venditti listed as the co-pilot, and Van Jensen proves that he’s more than capable of flying solo. Drew, I know you were having a hard time with the sheer number of lanterns featured in this series, and issue 28 doesn’t do you any favors in that regard. Hell, they even re-introduce Morro (who… I thought died in Blackest Night? Maybe I’m remembering that incorrectly). Still feeling like GLC is suffering from a case of Too Many Lanterns?

Drew: There are for sure a lot of Lanterns here — maybe more than necessary — but this series has finally gotten to a point where it can cycle through them with a reasonable expectation that we’ll recognize who we’re dealing with. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve spent enough time with the characters that I can now recognize them. Even though I jumped into this story without specific orientation (I may have forgotten there was an Annual out), this issue caught me up to speed on everyones concerns and motivations. I agree that Morro’s scene here sticks out, but only because it doesn’t advance any story line — it basically just reminds us that the Universe thinks Kyle Rayner is dead.

That basically gets at my ongoing pet peeve with this series: how tied it is to the events of the other Green Lantern books. I appreciate that this title plays a supporting role in the GL universe, but I’m also enjoying the case-of-the-week structure enough to wish it was a means to its own end. I haven’t been following New Guardians, and I’m not looking forward to more setup for a story I likely won’t read. Ultimately, it’s a small gripe, leveled more at the Editors than anyone else — I truly think Jensen and artist Bernard Chang are making the most of this series’ lot in life. This was a fun issue that I’d recommend to anyone looking for a little ring-slinging action.

The conversation doesn’t stop there, because you certainly read something that we didn’t. What do you wanna talk about from this week?