[At the end of each month, Aaron surveys the comics he read, celebrates the best, considers the rest, and takes stock of what it means to be a contemporary comic fan. Follow "The State of My Pull List" here.]
[Note: this month's Pull List is mondo-big, so it'll be broken up into three pieces. Here's the second part. Here's part one.]
Solid Reads
Secret Avengers #16
With Secret Avengers #16 Warren Ellis once again smuggles a sharp critique of superheroes inside of a frothy, expertly crafted adventure story (see also Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis, my Spotlight pick for February 2011) Ellis makes the most of the Secret Avengers concept, telling a story that’s relatively quiet and takes place in an abandoned city several miles underground – Captain America and his team (Beast, who Ellis portrays as a neurotic, motor-mouth nerd, plus Moon Knight, and Black Widow) infiltrate the facility, drive around in a nuclear-powered Cadillac, and stop the bad guys (a classic faceless evil organization) from teleporting Cincinnati off the face of the planet. That quiet, offbeat tone is complemented by artist Jamie McKelvie’s backgrounds, which are starkly beautiful in a Michelangelo Antonioni sort of way—his double-page spread of Moon Knight soaring over the empty cityscape is breathtaking. Of course, McKelvie is equally adept at framing exciting action sequences, most of which are packed into the final third of the issue. Ellis saves the didacticism for the very end—it’s devastating, so I won’t give it away here—Beast’s notes of regret just make it all the more compelling. Apparently Secret Avengers is just going to be one-and-done stories by Ellis and a rotation of artists—I’d be happier with more from McKelvie every month, but I’m on board regardless.
DC double-shipped its Retroactive titles this month, grouping the 80s and 90s titles together to clear the way for the big relaunch. This time I only picked up 8 of the 12 titles (I skipped the Wonder Woman and Superman books for both decades purely by happenstance, but I’m sure I’ll get them in back issues during a slow week, or maybe for a buck at a convention) and had fun with each one. I do wish DC had gone all-out with the “retro” theme and used decade-appropriate coloring and printing techniques to match the classic feel of the stories, but that’s a minor complaint when the stories are as good as Mike W. Barr and Jerry Bingham’s return to Batman: Year Two continuity, or Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire dusting off the witty repartee for one more run with the Justice League International. My favorite of these titles was the 90s Batman by writer Alan Grant and artist Norm Breyfogle. The story is knotty, with a supernatural element, and Breyfogle is in top form—his action choreography is lean and balletic, and his acting expressive. With any luck DC will bring some of these writers and artists back for regular work.
Severed #1
We know from his work on American Vampire and Detective Comics that writer Scott Snyder can craft a quietly terrifying story, so it’s not really a surprise that Severed #1, the first issue of his creator-owned mini-series from Image Comics, reads like a hesitant walk down a dark hallway. Not that the book is slow—rather, Snyder and co-writer Scott Tuft build the threats so steadily that each page turn is another step towards an inevitable, gruesome end. The story, told in flashback, follows Jack, a young boy in turn of the 20th century New York, who runs away from home to find his asbentee father, whom he believes is a traveling musician. Meanwhile, a predator named Porter poses as a General Electric technician to lure orphans with promises of an apprenticeship, and usher them into a uniquely awful death. Jack and Mr. Porter are clearly on a collision course, but Snyder and Tuft hold their cards close for the first issue, drawing no clear connections between the two characters and letting Porter’s horror loom unknowable in Jack’s future. Artist Attila Futaki uses a rich palette, alternating between warm reds and yellows for Jack’s scenes, and slate gray for Porter’s, to connect the comic to its setting. That his characters and backgrounds feel almost like illustrations from a children’s book, painterly and rounded and wholesome, makes the big scare at the end all the more effective.
One-Shots
Speaking of Scott Snyder knowing how to write a scary story, in American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #3 he introduces a creep eugenics plotline into the proceedings, and gives artist Sean Murphy some impressively frightening giant vampire monsters to draw.
Continuing our Scott Snyder coverage, Batman: Gates of Gotham, which he co-wrote with Kyle Higgins and Ryan Parrot, concluded this month with issues four and five—aside from brief fill-in pages by Bat-artist extraordinaire Dustin Nguyen this was a pretty straightforward end to a very straightforward, though enjoyable, mini-series.
Proving that last month’s jaw-dropping debut was no fluke, Daredevil #2 delivered even more of Paolo Rivera’s exquisite fight choreography and page construction, plus a clever spin on a classic Marvel villain that also exploits Daredevil’s radar senses.
Dark Horse Presents #3 offers more excellent work from Paul Chadwick, Carla Speed McNeil, David Chelsea, and Patrick Alexander, plus more incoherence from Neal Adams and an excellent new story written and drawn by Dave Gibbons of Watchmen fame.
DeadpoolMAX has yet to match the high bar set by issue three’s evisceration of a racist cult, but issue eleven comes very close in its darkly comic depiction of young Wade’s childhood trauma and writer David Lapham’s oddly touching depiction of violent revenge.
Flashpoint Update! Though the main series began at an achingly slowly pace, I found the conclusion of Flashpoint brisk and effective. Issue five stands out for its moving conclusion that brings Batman a literal note of peace before the big DC relaunch, but issue four was more coherent. The conclusion of Batman: Knight of Vengeance #3 wasn’t nearly as compelling as the set-up, but the series averages out to quite good. Project Superman #3 offered an even darker conclusion than Knight of Vengeance, as writer Scott Snyder (him again!) teaches young Kal-El how to fight. A lot of characters were killed in Secret Seven #3, but since we’d only just met most of them it hardly made an impact. The Outsider #3 managed to avoid explaining the questions I expected would eventually be answered, and was all the more exciting for it.
Writer Matthew Sturges destroyed the titular house in House of Mystery #40, thereby setting the stage for a two-issue farewell arc that will surely break the hearts of dedicated readers like myself.
Mark Waid rearranges the chessboard a bit in Incorruptible #21, bringing a new ally to Max Damage’s fight and introducing a mysterious adversary. And series artist Peter Krause exits Irredeemable with issue 28, providing one of the title’s darkest moments as a parting gift.
Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra reconsider the conventions of comic book storytelling once again in The Red Wing #2, but they’re good enough to eventually return to convention and end the issue with a juicy cliffhanger.
One of my favorite titles of the year, The Rocketeer Adventures wraps up with issue four featuring another murderers’ row of talent, including Dave Gibbons, Joe Pruett, John Arcudi, Scott Hampton, Tony Harris, and Jamie Grant, plus two beautiful painted pin-ups by Ashley Wood that I’d happily hang in my living room.
I was glad to see Daniel Acuña as a guest artist on X-Men Schism #3—I’m still enjoying the story but I’m more excited just to see new artists taking on the X-characters every month.
Venom #6 begins a three-issue crossover with the Spider-Island event that’s currently overtaking all Spider-family books; I don’t really care about the event, which means this is probably a good time to drop the title and pick it up again in a few months.
Looking Ahead to September
Ffity-two new titles from DC, all of which I’ll read and review just for you, dear Pull List reader. If it doesn’t kill me, it’ll only make me stronger. I’m sure I’ll read other comics, too, but let’s be honest—DC has September locked up.
