Jul 13 2017

Allusions Become the Text in Bug! The Adventures of Forager 3

by Drew Baumgartner

Bug! The Adventures of Forager 3

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

That this series riffs on the entirely of Jack Kirby’s DC work isn’t just a given — it’s a primary draw. And there’s plenty of work to touch upon. While this series is tangentially related to Kirby’s well-known Fourth World mythology, much of the focus has been on Kirby’s lesser-known DC creations. But what fascinates me about this issue isn’t just the presence of deep-cut characters like Atlas (and his vendetta against Hyssa the Lizard King), but that it does so while also making allusions to non-comics works. The effect is a densely literate work, as crystalline as the shards of “possible outcomes” that feature so prominently in this issue. Continue reading →

Jul 13 2017

Unknowability is a Strength in Star Wars: Darth Vader 3

by Mark Mitchell

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, read on at your own risk!

Last month when discussing Darth Vader 2, I counted the fact that Darth Vader largely remains a cipher in his own series as a core weakness in Charles Soule’s story, but with Darth Vader 3 I think I have it all wrong. It’s still true that readers looking for a deep, complex shading of Darth Vader won’t find it here, but really, who wants that in the first place? The Prequels were predicated on the audiences’ interest in “understanding” Darth Vader, and those were terrible. The world already has enough context for Vader’s actions thanks to years and years of pop culture indoctrination. Darth Vader as a mostly silent, imposing villain is optimal Darth Vader. It’s the difference between original Halloween Michael Meyers and reinvented Rob Zombie-era Halloween Michael Meyers. Continue reading →

Jul 13 2017

Purpose and Sacrifice in Wonder Woman 26

by Patrick Ehlers

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Servitude is a crucial part of the soldier’s identity. They don’t just fight for abstract concepts like truth, and justice and the American way, but so the people they serve can experience those abstractions. There’s a virtue in that sacrifice, but it remains a sacrifice. Perhaps more than most superheroes, Wonder Woman is a traditional soldier, trained in both the art and etiquette of war, but her sacrifice has always been a bit ill-defined. She gives up paradise, but only so her fellow Amazons can continue to experience it. Writer Shea Fontana finds a new angle on Wonder Woman’s sacrifice in Wonder Woman 26: Diana’s childhood. Continue reading →

Jul 12 2017

Reconstructing the Superhero Mythos in Jupiter’s Legacy Volume 2 5

by Drew Baumgartner

Jupiter's Legacy Vol 2 5

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

There have been some truly great deconstructions of the superhero genre. Watchmen set the bar in that particular corner of superherodom, but there have been countless imitators in the decades since. Indeed, there’d be enough to think that the very idea of deconstructing a superhero story has lost all meaning — but of course, in comics, any issue might be someone’s first, so any deconstruction might feel subversive to newcomers, even if the rest of us have seen it a million times. That was more or less my assessment of Jupiter’s Legacy when it started back in 2013; this was an attractive, well-observed series that ultimately felt decidedly familiar. But, of course, that was its starting point, not its raison d’être. The fifth and final issue of volume two clarifies that this series was about taking superhero mythology from that tired deconstructed wasteland and reconstructing its original spirit of optimism. Continue reading →

Jul 12 2017

Gimmick is Given Purpose in All-New Guardians of the Galaxy 5

by Michael DeLaney

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

In general, I’m not big on comic books aligning with their big screen counterparts — that kind of streamlined homogeny I can do without. But let’s be honest here, the Guardians of the Galaxy movie probably made Star-Lord more interesting than he ever was before 2014. In All-New Guardians of the Galaxy 5, Gerry Duggan embraces Peter Quill’s status as swash-buckling space pirate with an affinity for classic Earth tunes. Continue reading →

Jul 12 2017

We Return to Volthoom’s Past in Green Lanterns 26

by Mark Mitchell

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, read on at your own risk!

In isolation, Green Lanterns 26 is a cogent re-telling of the power rings’ origins, elaborating on the painful relationship of Volthoom and Rami that was hinted at in Green Lanterns 25. For readers already familiar with Green Lantern lore, Sam Humphries adds a new wrinkle to the story with the reveal that Volthoom destroyed his own home world, but otherwise this is a bit of a painful diversion for anyone hoping to see Simon and Jessica’s story continue. Continue reading →

Jul 12 2017

Gags as Story Engine in Spider-Man Master Plan 1

by Ryan Mogge

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Long before Betty was in a coma, Archie one page gags filled my favorite digests. The form is simple: a few panels establishing the premise, a few panels executing the idea and then a twist usually capped with a pun. While Spider-Man: Master Plan 1 is certainly more fluid than a series of one pagers, it has the same rhythm throughout. Continue reading →

Jul 11 2017

Cloudia and Rex 1: Discussion

by Mark Mitchell & Ryan Desaulniers

Cloudia and Rex 1

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, read on at your own risk!

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Mark: Everyone in Ulises Farinas, Erick Freitas, and Daniel Irizarri’s beautiful Cloudia and Rex 1 is just trying to survive. For the deities like Death, Hypnos, and Ala, the threat to their existence is very literal; their entire plane of existence is under attack from Seraphim sent by the High Waveform as it looks to consolidate power and become the one, true God. For 13 year-old Cloudia, her younger sister Rex, and her mom, the threat is more existential. A close knit family, their ties are beginning to fray in the aftermath of Cloudia’s father’s death. Continue reading →

Jul 11 2017

Proceeding(s) Forward in Daredevil 23

by Ryan Desaulniers

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

A good villain pulls a particular thread of a hero’s core fabric; a great villain can challenge a hero on multiple levels — as Wilson Fisk so often has for Matt Murdock over the years. The Kingpin’s inclusion in the current DD arc, “Supreme,” struck me as a solid idea when it was dangled as last issue’s final reveal, but this issue shows that this great villain brings with him a multi-pronged approach to opposing Murdock which helps to progress this story on many levels. Continue reading →

Jul 11 2017

The Wicked + The Divine 29 Continues to Ask “What Comes Next?”

by Spencer Irwin

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

The first part of the “Imperial Phase” storyline was all about answering the question “what comes next?” — all about the Pantheon figuring out how to proceed after Ananke’s death, and generally doing so in the most self-indulgent manner possible. In The Wicked + The Divine 29, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and Matthew Wilson kick off the second part of “Imperial Phase” by asking the same exact question, only this time in the aftermath of Sakhmet’s deadly attack on her followers. The Pantheon’s answers to that question don’t appear to have changed much. Continue reading →