Hawkeye (starring Kate Bishop), Jennifer Walters (Hulk) and IDWs Locke & Key (in a 1-shot) made their returns.
DC assembled a super team to helm their new miniseries, Supergirl Being Super
Young Animal suffered its first delay as Doom Patrol #4 was bounced to January, and Hickman’s new Image title “Frontier” was also unable to meet its scheduled release date.
Written by Rick Remender
Art by Jerome Opeña * Colors by Matt Hollingsworth
Characters share their tragic back stories, and the Mud King proves to be poison, even without power. Which is a bit of a cliché (the captured getting under the skin of his captors) but hey, it made for an interesting read.
Written by Gene Luen Yang
Art by Viktor Bogdanovic * Colors by Hi-Fi
The first arc closes with a bang! Self sacrifice, intestinal fortutude, intellegence and team work are all on display. There are laughs (Kenan trying to blow freeze breath) and loss. Plus the Justice League of China shows that the Great 10 really are dinosaurs. The JLofC fought to save lives, every life. The 10 went in gun blazin and took the expedient, thoughtless rout.
Written by Mia Goodwin
Art and Colors by Michelle Wong
This convoluted series added to its mythology this issue and offers up some clarity on who’s who and what’s what and why Addison might just be a puppet on somebody’s string.
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Dragotta * Colors by Frank Martin
Hickman checks in with the Horsemen, and takes us inside the Endless Nation, where a startling discovery is made. Character work and dialog continue to be strength, the way JH connects scenes via words (“exaggerate”) or word play (the Chief speaks of avoiding war as the scene shifts to war). It’s one of those ‘people sitting around a table, arguing’ issues… which sounds boring, but is actually scintillating.
Written by Dennis Hopeless
Art by Veronica Fish * Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg
Hopeless continues to hit the heart and soul hard with this story. Jen grieves, suffers insult and hunts for Rogers’s killer - before coming face to face with… the Porcupine? GASP!
Written by Gabriel Hardman & Corinna Bechko
Art by Gabriel Hardman * Colors by Jordan Boyd
Babb returns to Avalon for answers and finds things have gotten worse. The flashbacks were great as usual.
Written by Jody Houser
Art and colors by Tommy Lee Edwards
Gotham City comes off even more dark and dodgy in this series. It’s a nasty town populated with crass people (a victim’s charity gala, where attendees dress up like victims?) or broken ones. Our anti-heroine and her mother are among the broken ones. I liked seeing Violet’s emotional baggage laid bare, I liked the peaks into her past, And seeing her conflicted (being thrust into the heroine role, and her inability to kill… which was refreshing. I thought this book would go there easily. That it didn’t, that she couldn’t, was a surprise.)
Written by Gerard Way and Jon Rivera
Art by Michael Avon Oeming * Colors by Nick Filardi
Things are really cooking now. There was some finely tuned storytelling put on display, with a perfect blending of humor with sorrow. There's exciting action, and woven through that, interesting plot and character development. Art wise Oeming was in top form
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Michael Gaydos * Colors by Matt Hollingsworth
Jess is a riot; I frequently laughed out loud during this ish (the line about her ‘best friend’) and Alison? She’s a victim of the current Civil War event, but why does she think J.J. can’t stand her husband Luke? I need more back-story! Bendis is toying with and teasing us: we’re the cat and he’s the guy with the laser light - but oh how I love the game.
Written by Mariko Tamaki
Art by Nico Leon * Colors by Matt Milla
A few years back Mariko Tamaki wrote one of my favorite OGN, This One Summer, which concerned 2 friends in a coming-of-age story. I knew she would be perfect covering similar subject matter in the current Supergirl miniseries, but Hulk? What would she do with Hulk? Actually it kind of runs along the same lines, as it too is a character study about a woman facing change. In Dan Slott’s She-Hulk, Jen was someone who didn’t want to go back to her normal self, she liked being green and powerful. But in this series Hulking out has become painful and traumatic. Jennifer Walter’s looks cool on the outside, but inside she’s psychologically scarred and has lost her equilibrium. The art helps to sell this idea as well (her apartments made for a Hulk. Shelves and mirrors are too high for her now).
This was a win right out of the gate (her first case is intriguing too) and if the title keeps to these high standards, Hulk could turn out to be 2017s Vision.
Written by Brian Azzarello
Art by Eduardo Risso and Colors by Risso and Cristian Rossi
What ambiance, what style, what’s in that hooch? Great cover. The interior art is a dream, while the story is a nightmare (in a good way)
Written by Cecil Castellucci
Art by Marley Zarcone * Colors by Kelly Fitzpatrick
What are some of the ingredients to a good story? Strong pacing, structure, characterization, dialogue, setting, tone… Shade has that in spades. I enjoy this title because (for one) it’s a master class of form: The book is centered on a poet and thus there’s a poetic quality throughout. It’s focused on madness, and the pacing reflects that… shooting from one scene and character to another, from planet to planet. It’s dizzying and schizophrenic. I’m also fascinated by the culture of youth seen here. I’m interested in Loma’s struggling with a split personality, and of Megan’s spirit form delighting in destruction. She’s a toxic force that overwhelms and hurts even when she’s only present as memory in her own body.
Honorable Mentions
The Clone Conspiracy #3, Revival #45, Hadrian’s Wall #4, Inhumans vs X-Men #1, Hawkeye #1, Locke & Key: Small World #1, Harrow County #19, Hellblazer #5, Monstress #9
Writer of the Month
FYI? Castellucci wrote the OGN The P.L.A.I.N. Janes for DC Comics's short lived Minx imprint in 2007
Artists of the Month
Head Writer, wide awake nightmare... bids you salutations citizens of Earth!
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