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, Drew discusses Avengers 30, The New 52: Futures End 4, Nightwing 30, and Southern Bastards 2.
Look, we know how you feel. We didn’t believe it either when we were you and we us said what we us are saying right now.
Bill S. Preston, Esquire, Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Drew: Do you ever think about what you would tell your past self if you ever had the opportunity? It seems like a silly question, but it comes up a LOT in fiction, and is never quite satisfactory. There’s almost always some kind of time constraint that keeps anyone from asking the serious questions, meaning that everything ends up being a rushed jumble of cryptic teasers for what’s about to happen. It makes sense — actually having the future version tell the past version everything would either rob the story of any tension, or run the risk of changing the past that we’ve already read. In Avengers 30, Jonathan Hickman knowingly toes the line between too little and too much information, but keeps the focus tight enough on the characters that it ultimately doesn’t matter.
That information — and most of the character work– comes in the form of future Hawkeye, who at least has some experience with what’s about to happen to our time-displaced heroes. Apparently, the Time Gem is going to keep skipping them through time, except for Tony, whose Incursion Warning Implant gives him special opting out powers. At any rate, there’s not enough time to convey much in the way of real information (aside from a Lost in Translation-style whisper secret old Clint tells Cap), but the real highlight is Hickman’s characterization of old Clint.
It’s a clever move, using what could be an exposition dump (or just another opportunity for Hickman to show off just how much he has already planned) as this series first real exploration of Clint. Earlier on, Hickman had trouble integrating that kind of character work into the stories, giving us either one or the other, but this issue manages to be both. Hickman has a remarkable handle on Clint’s voice, elevating this issue beyond just a recreation of that Circle K scene from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Of course, and discussion of warnings to or from time travelers in this week’s comics wouldn’t be complete without mentioning The New 52: Futures End 4. Actually, Terry doesn’t factor into the story at all, which may be this issue’s biggest problem. My biggest complaint at the start of the first few issues is that they were showing us plot before making us care about any of the characters, but this issue inverts the equation, icing all of the stories already in motion to give us a little more time with its characters. It’s necessary, but because it comes after the plot (in what industry insiders call “back-asswards”), it saps the series of any momentum.
Also, hilariously, the series seems to have doubled down on the dismemberment of heroes, featuring yet another limb being cut off. This might explain why the creators were so uncomfortable acknowledging the comments about so many arms being cut off in that zero issue — they knew there were more coming. Ultimately, though, it still feels like I’m being shown things long before I’m given a reason to care about them, as though it’s a given that comic fans will want to read these stories. It’s incredibly flawed logic that will surely buck many readers along the way. Actually, a rapidly shrinking readership might indeed cement this series as the microcosm of The New 52 everyone has made it out to be.
Speaking of bucking readers, many, many fans were disappointed to learn that Nightwing is “dead,” though Forever Evil 7 and Nightwing 30 reveal that he’s only mostly dead. Actually, he’s using his death as a cover so that he can begin working with Spyral, the super-secret spy organization that killed Talia way back in Batman Incorporated 13. It’s a clever premise — one of the only other members we know, Kathy Kane, was also a presumed-dead Batman associate — which is all the more remarkable given how much I thought I would hate this issue. Kyle Higgins said a beautiful goodbye to Dick in Nightwing 29 (which he considered THE last issue of Nightwing), and I couldn’t imagine caring about hearing anyone else’s last words on the character. Yet I found myself actually enjoying this issue quite a bit.
It inexplicably gives much of its space over to Dr. Leslie Tompkins, with no mention of Dick whatsoever, but as soon as the issue shifts its focus back to its title character, things click into place. Ultimately, this issue may be more about Dick’s place in the DC canon than it is about his character, but it manages to do so in a surprisingly compelling way. Indeed, this issue features one of the most persuasive explanations for why Bruce would train young kids to fight crime: he’s already lost too many loved ones who didn’t know how to fight. I didn’t necessarily love that scene, either, but it sets Dick on a mission that seems fun enough, and forces him so against his type that I’m going to at least pick up Grayson when it comes out.
Oh, and speaking of characters escaping their pasts (or at least trying to), Southern Bastards 2 finds Earl drawn ever further into the dealings of Coach Boss, giving him a personal stake beyond just wanting to get the hell out of town. Still, he seems destined to leave until a bolt of lighting turns the tree on his father’s grave into a smoldering baseball bat. It’s a goofy premise — Walking Tall meets The Natural, but Jasons Aaron and Latour inject it with enough detail and sweaty mood to make it their own.
The notion of a high school football coach crime lord is a distinctly small southern town idea — who else could wield this kind of power, or command this kind of loyalty? — but Aaron and Latour carry it off without a self-conscious thought. This series had its voice right out of the gate, and seems to only be getting better. I can’t wait to see Earl start waving that bat around town.
The conversation doesn’t stop there, because you certainly read something that we didn’t. What do you wanna talk about from this week?
Retcon Punch 
Southern Bastards #2 – I have a hard time suspending my disbelief during the scenes on the football field during games. The players don’t look natural to me and the idea of a person marching on the field and play going on around him is nearly impossible for me to fathom. That said, there’s something so damned appealing about an old man who cannot help himself from doing the right thing.
All Star Western #31 – You guys didn’t mention this one (and I might be the only person still reading it). Jonah back in the past, but with a new face. Nobody believes he’s really Jonah Hex. That’s a good thing, for the past year, a different Jonah Hex (with the scarred face) has gone off his rocker and is killing innocents and has a bounty on his head. Our Jonah has to go now find this bad Jonah. I’m still digging this comic. It’s fun. Before the New 52, I was never into western or army comics (strictly super heroes for this guy), but I think this has put together a great 31 issue run. There’s a new artist last two issues which isn’t bad (he does a fine job, although good Jonah’s face doesn’t feel very Jonah to me), but Moritat was such a part of how I viewed this comic that I’m not completely pleased. His style was so distinct that I understand why they’d go in a new direction. It’s just a bit jarring.
Conan the Avenger #2 and King Conan #4 continue to give great Conan stories. I think these stories are rivals to Red Sonja for quality, but not getting the critical acclaim.
Brass Sun #1 of 6. I don’t understand this comic at all, but it’s cool to look at and seems to have a giant world in place that all revolves around some clockwork machinery and failed religion. Gigantic in scope and a bit overwhelming and a wee bit irritating with the small girl chosen one, but I’ll definitely get issue 2.
I read All-Star Western this week, and intended to write about it in the roundup, but was a little crunched for time, and realized I had more to say about Southern Bastards. I’m also missing Moritat, as well as the longer arcs from earlier in the run. This issue felt pretty inconsequential to me, and I really didn’t like that backup.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Conan series…maybe we’ll have to check those out soon.
There are a couple different Conan series right now. King Conan is a 6 issue mini series that is the second half of another six part series. A terrible time to dive in. However, Conan the Avenger is on issue two and has been pretty fun. They ended Conan the Barbarian to switch to Avenger and switched writers from Brian Wood to Fred Van Lente (who I sometimes like), and I’ve really liked this story so far.
All Star Western’s New 52 incarnation has had some of the worst backups imaginable. I’ve just completely hated almost all of them. Is the Western era of DC comics that rich in history and interesting that it’s worth these backups and charging us an buck for them?
Fantastic Four #5 – This was actually a fun issue. It had flaws, but it was a fun (if sad) retrospective on their greatest glories and disasters.
Comic quality aside, are you guys reading any of the news about Marvel getting rid of everything Fantastic Four related? There seems to be a lot of stuff online these days about how Marvel is disbanding the Fantastic Four (and the Ultimate FF) in order to avoid helping Fox out with their new movie.
This book is about the destruction of the Fantastic Four, and Marvel may mean it until they’re able to get movie rights. I spent about a half hour getting lost in internet rumors the other day, but it’s from a couple different sites and might be legit.
It looks like the rumor started at Bleeding Cool, and has been echoing around the comics blogs since then. Brevoort is being typically cagey, which makes me think that the Fantastic Four might actually be “dying” at the end of Robinson’s run, but I doubt they would harm their own revenue out of spite (or, even more ludicrously, to shelve them long enough to reassert movie rights).
Like, there’s no way anyone interested in seeing the next Fantastic Four movie is going to have that decision influenced by the publication status of the comic. That is, Fantastic Four fans who were going to see it anyway are going to see it anyway, and non-fans couldn’t be bothered to care about whether a comic is or isn’t being published. Even if they thought this move could make even the slightest dent in the profits of the movie, the movie would have to totally bomb to get Fox to give up the property, and I don’t think “this comic isn’t even being published (right now)” is going to have that kind of effect. All they would be doing is cutting off a source of revenue for themselves.
That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers didn’t support those series right now, anyway, or if Marvel wanted to kill the team off to drive their own sales. It happens all the time. I think it’s possible that those series might be on the chopping block, but I think the relation to the impending movie release is a stretch.
No offense meant, but I’ve found this rumor to be kinda dumb ever since it came out. What effect could the cancellation of the Fantastic Four POSSIBLY have on the movie? Like fifteen times more people are going to see that movie than read the comic even at its highest numbers–it’s like a drop in a hat! If anything, it’s the other way around: the movies can help boost the COMIC’s sales, and I dunno if Marvel would wanna miss out on that.
Plus, this is all assuming that cancelling the book would suddenly make people not want to see the movie, which seems to be a strange assumption to make. Why would that happen? Is cancelling the book going to make people suddenly stop caring about the franchise? If anything, some of the hardcore FF fans without a fix might be even more likely to go see the film.
I’m not saying the rumor necessarily isn’t true — although, if it ever was, I don’t think Marvel would be likely to go through with it now that the word’s leaked — but if it is or ever was, it’s an incredibly stupid business move.
It should also be noted that this rumor started because the Fantastic Four wasn’t featured on the solicited cover for the 75th anniversary issue — an issue Brevoort has confirmed in no uncertain terms does, in fact, feature the Fantastic Four.
No offense taken. It’s a crazy idea and a crazy rumor. Anyone who thinks that any comic form of a story would have the slightest effect on a movie that would be expected to gross $50 million+ is nuts.
But that’s what things certainly seem like from various sides. It was just a weird story that had been making some buzz and I thought I’d bring it up because I actually read Fantastic Four (and for all of its flaws, I like it a lot more than I liked Fraction’s Fantastic Four).
Speaking of Fraction, I picked up the first Sex Criminals trade yesterday (issues 1-5). First impression is slightly favorable.
Also picked up Maus from half priced books. First impression of that is one of awe. Amazing how powerful the black and white imagery is. It’s also amazing how powerful the dialogue is. The first couple pages were really dark so I read it aloud to my girlfriend. It was interesting so I kept reading and it worked really well as a spoken piece.
Yes, i know I’m late with this and talking about Maus in the same post as talking about Fantastic Four rumors is completely ridiculous.
Iron Patriot #3 – Should I know who that bad guy is? This has to tie the record for the shortest comic book death, right? Dies at the end of issue 2, cpr’d back to life at the start of issue 3? I’m not even sure this comic is good right now. I feel like it could be, but three issues in, you’d think I’d have some idea of either why someone is doing something or at least who that someone is. And I’m not into a writer trying to heighten the suspense because the child is in danger. It feels cheap.
Actually, a lot of this comic feels cheap. The thrills are all out of our characters control, and when they lose, they get brought back anyway.
Hey, speaking of Nightwing 30, has anyone checked out Megan Hetrick’s art for the originally solicited #30?
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/06/02/the-entire-art-from-nightwing-20-by-before-it-was-binned/
Apparently, the decision to go with Tim Seeley and Tom King’s script came after Tynion’s script was already inked. It explains why the issue we got required three pencillers, and why the solicits were so wonky. It’s too bad — that issue looks like it would have been pretty good, too.
Yeah, I saw that; so it looks like the original idea was to actually kill off Nightwing? Or I wonder if that was a fake body in that coffin. Either way I think I prefer that little snippet to the actual issue (even if Nightwing 30 was pretty decent in the end). It looks to have so much emotion and the storytelling is excellent; I don’t even need the words to tell what’s happening. Even got a little emotional. I’m glad Dick’s still alive, but that could’ve been a really powerful issue.
It looks like it would have been an awesome issue, with each member of the bat family getting a moment to reflect on their times with Dick, and a proper Superhero burial. It looks to me like there’s a fake body (there’s a hospital room scene where Bruce and Dick are standing over some kind of body double), and that the issue ends with Dick getting on a plane, much like this one did. I think the beats were largely the same, just with more of an emphasis on Dick, and less of one on Spyral, which probably would have made for a much more fitting end to this series (and less like a zero issue for Grayson).
So…is anyone still reading Futures End at this point? The zero issue felt enough like self-parody to me, but I actually laughed out loud when I saw that Frankenstein had his hand cut off here. Seriously, do they have some kind of quota for these scenes? Maybe the writers made a bet of some kind? I think I like the idea that they have a dismemberment scoreboard somewhere, and each writer is trying to top the next — at least that sounds like fun, something this series is sorely lacking.
I’m reading it. I have a hard time remembering what happened from week to week. I’ve got a little more patience with it as I like a lot of the characters featured in it and want to see something interesting with them.
It better get interesting soon. I have faith!
It really feels like they’re taking our interest for granted. This issue represents the first time anything has happened to Grifter, and I’m far from invested in Frank’s “S.H.A.D.E. spied on me!” indignation. Like, no duh. Keeping tabs on monsters is literally all they do. Even Tim’s story should have progressed further than “Tim is still out of the game” by now. So few things have happened, and they haven’t given us any reason to care about the things that have.
I’m surprised you guys don’t read Deadly Class. It’s one of my favorite books on the stands right now partially because the concept is great and partially because it’s identifiable with any young person who spent time as an outcast in high school