Swords of Sorrow #2 (Cover Variant C)

Another comic shop purchase from last summer. My review of the first issue of this series is here.

Title: Swords of Sorrow
Issue: 2 (Cover Variant C)
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2015
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Sergio Davila
Colorist: Jorge Sutil
Letterer: Erica Schultz
Editor: Hannah Elder
Cover: Robert Hack

I love the Frazetta-paperback-throwback look for this cover, including the "price tag".

With the swords distributed through the dimensions to the chosen warrior women, the question becomes how they will find common ground as the dimensional rifts keep throwing the characters together along with various elements of their respective worlds. You know, like hungry dinosaurs for example.

At least the language barrier won't be a problem. Apparently these Swords of Sorrow also function as babelswords.

The main focus here is on Red Sonja and Deja Thoris, who are rapidly emerging as the stars of this show. Their interaction is actually loads of fun, with good action mixed with dialogue. Gail Simone has an excellent grasp of the characters an great attention to detail for things like the varying gravity between Barsoom and Jasoom.

The plot is the biggest weakness so far. The villain is generic, and he does generic villain things like sending generic minions to attack the heroines, with mostly predictable results. Hopefully the story will dispense with these preliminaries in the next issue.

Rating: 5.5/10



 

Batgirl #40

The last of a three-issue run of Batgirl that I bought last summer at Double Midnight Comics in Manchester NH. My review of the previous issue is here.

Title: Batgirl
Issue: 40
Date: May, 2015
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher
Artist: Babs Tarr, Cameron Stewart
Colorist: Maris Wicks
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Chris Conroy, Dave Wielgosz
Cover: Cameron Stewart

Defeating Batgirl, murdering citizens of Gotham, and unleashing weapons of mass destruction? Turns out, there's an app for that.

Barbara confronts an out-of-control AI that's imprinted with her own brain patterns, and it's decided that Gotham isn't big enough for the two of them. It's also planning on stopping crime that has yet to happen through some strategic mass murder.

This was a solid conclusion, perhaps a bit too neatly wrapped up, but still loads of fun. Barbara employs some classic Star Trek tactics against her digital likeness, and gets a hand from Canary to deal with a fleet of ill-intentioned drones.

Good fun that wraps up a bunch of loose ends, and nicely transitions into a new chapter of Batgirl's story.

Rating: 7/10

Airboy #1

This first issue of Airboy is from around the time of my first introduction to serious comic collecting, when I used to head into Boston to the original Newbury Comics location to pick up my weekly subscription, mostly of 80s b/w books from independent publishers. Airboy was not a title I followed then, although I was aware of it, and I acquired this copy much more recently, although I don't recall the circumstances.

Title: Airboy
Issue: 1
Publisher: Eclipse Comics
Date: July, 1986
Writer: Charles Dixon, Timothy Truman
Penciller: Timothy Truman
Inker: Tom Yeates
Colorist: Ron Courtney
Letterer: Tim Harkins
Editor: Timothy Truman, Cat Yronwode

This series brings back the Golden Age war comics hero Airboy, the teenaged flying ace who appeared in Air Fighters Comics and his own title in the 1940s.

The new story sees the original character's son taking over the role, and operating as a vigilante, seeking revenge against his father's enemies. The plot of this issue is straightforward, jumping right into the action as assassins storm the monastery where sixteen-year-old Davey Nelson practices martial arts while his father watches from the seclusion of his office.

It's non-stop action from there, and by the time it's done the Airboy legacy has been passed to the new generation.

While not all that original in terms of plot, this was effective in introducing the characters while delivering plenty of mayhem.

The comic story is bookended by an excellent editorial by Cat Yronwode on the relationship between art and politics, and a prose history of the Airboy character and his comics in the 1940s.

Rating: 6.5/10

Swords of Sorrow #1 (Cover Variant B)

Second review of the night! I bought this last summer (along with the second issue) at one of the comic shops I visited. This issue has a ton of cover variants. I bought the "Version B" cover, with beautiful art by Jenny Frison.

Title: Swords of Sorrow
Issue: 1 (Cover Variant B)
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2015
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Sergio Davila
Colorist: Jorge Sutil
Letterer: Erica Schultz
Editor: Hannah Elder
Cover: Jenny Frison

This is Dynamite's female-character crossover, written by Gail Simone. Red Sonja is really the central character, and it is her style and flavor that largely shapes this interdimensional fantasy story.

This issue is broken into a bunch of segments that introduce the various characters to the readers, who might not be reading their individual comics. Opening with Jana the Jungle Girl, the vignettes give us glimpses of Kato, Red Sonja, Dejah Thoris, Vampirella, Lady Zorro, and others.

I enjoyed getting reacquainted with characters I knew from the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, plus pulp and comics characters from the thirties through the seventies. The cast is fun, and Gail Simone's writing nails their personalities impressively, given the space limitations.

There is also some progress made on the overall plot, as the swords of the title are distributed, and we're introduced to the interdimensional power-players who are manipulating events that will eventually bring the diverse group of women together.

Considering how much is going on here, this reads pretty smoothly, although it does employ a lot of familiar tropes found in other multi-world crossover comics. There were some nice bits of subtle feminism (especially in the opening sequence with Jana), and a number of fun cliffhangers to get the various plotlines off and running.

The artwork is beautiful, and captures the styles of the different characters very well.

While it definitely had a similar feel to other crossover stories, Swords of Sorrow #1 did a good job with the small details, which will hopefully continue to distinguish it as the story progresses.

Rating: 6.5/10

Collateral Damage: The Manga

We leave for the USA just after midnight Wednesday night (Thursday morning, technically). That leaves the rest of tonight, and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to get through the rest of the unread comics stack. Challenge accepted!



That's fifteen comics to go. Definitely doable.

Starting off here with a quick one. This almost certainly came off of a freebies table at a con, but I have no idea beyond that of where and when I acquired it.

Title: Collateral Damage: The Manga
Publisher: Gozer Games

This is essentially just an advertisement, in minicomic form, for the Collateral Damage boardgame, which is a game of fighting for control of cities amidst a background of familiar anime tropes.

The comic summarizes and illustrates the boardgame, taking the reader through the turn sequence. It does not give the complete rules in detail, but it does a
good job of getting the flow of the game across to the reader.

Aside from the fact that the game's romantic elements seem to be restricted to a cis straight perspective, the game sounds amusing and entertaining. The designers have a good feel for the flow of an anime story, and the game design looks good (as much as I could tell without actually playing),

The artwork is fun, with the expected anime visual clichés in full display.

Since it really is just an advertisement, this minicomic doesn't do much in terms of story, but it does a reasonable job of selling the product it was meant to sell.

Rating: 5/10

Marvel Free Previews: Secret Wars

Not technically a Free Comic Book Day book, this was a freebie that was widely available last summer. I'm not sure which store I picked it up in.

Title: Marvel Free Previews: Secret Wars
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2015
Writer: Jason Aaron, Felipe Smith, James Robinson, Sam Humphries, Brian Michael Bendis, Charles Soule, Dan Slott, Peter David, Skottie Young, Chris Sims, Chad Bowers, Scott Koblish, Jason Aaron, Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Chris Sprouse, Juan Gedeon, Steve Pugh, Alti Firmansyah, Mike Deodato, Leinil Yu, Adam Kubert, Greg Land, Skottie Young, Chris Sims, Chad Bowers, Scott Koblish, Mike del Mundo, Carlos Pacheco

I didn't pay much attention to last year's revival of Secret Wars. It seemed to involve a ridiculous amount of books, even by the standards of modern mainstream comics crossover "events". I did pick up this handy free preview, though.

So, from what I can tell from this, Secret Wars is basically a ten-year-or-so run of What If?, all released in the space of a few months and all connected by some vague attempt at continuity, with Doctor Doom as the main villain.

This book previews the following titles:

Thors: It's a bunch of versions of Thor functioning as Doom's police force in a story that's, well, a police procedural. Silly. Oh, and it has Beta Ray Bill. So even more silly.

Ghost Racers: Like NASCAR except all the drivers are versions of Ghost Rider. Also, Arcade is in this one. Not sure how this is supposed to be entertaining.

Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies: Okay, you're just trolling us at this point, right? Tigra seems to be the lead character here. Zombie-Kingpin makes for a disturbing visual.

Star Lord and Kitty Pryde: This one was fairly entertaining. In addition to the title characters, Gambit is prominently featured, as well as an odd take on Drax.

Guardians of Knowwhere: Drax (different version than above) and Angela fight for pretty much no reason inside a (not a moon) space station made from a Celestial's head.

Civil War: No, not THAT Civil War. Although the basic theme is there. Cap and Iron Man each rule half of North America. Stark is Lawful Good; Rogers is Chaotic Good. And speaking of good, this preview was actually really good. First story in this book that I'd actually be interested in reading.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows: Peter Parker is married to Mary Jane and they have a young daughter. This looked like fun. Sense of humor with heart. Presented in black-and-white for some reason that I can't fathom.

Future Imperfect: Hulk has a beard. And calls himself the Maestro now. Nothing much happens in this preview.

Giant-Size Little Marvel: A v. X: Basically a toy commercial.

X-Men '92: Okay, this was hilarious. In classic early-90s X-Book style, the X-Men head to the local mall in Westchester so that Jubilee can whup them at Lazer Tag. Third winner from this batch. Let's see how many more we get.

Weirdworld: As you might expect from the title, this was incoherent. The art was lovely, and the final page (revealing the "map" of Weirdworld) was awesome.

Squadron Sinister: Squadron Sinister kill Squadron Supreme in one of those superhero-battle-where-characters-actually-die scenarios, and none of the characters are anyone we care about. It doesn't help that the good guys and the bad guys are both rather blatant knock-offs of the Justice League. Which may be the point; I'm not up on my Squadron-Whatever history. Oh, and some random person gets their arms ripped off. Because... I'm not really sure. To remind everyone that the bad guy is a bad guy, I guess.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos: Okay, at least they chose to end on a high note. Deadpool mixed with 1970s Marvel monster comics is pure magic. This should have been the entire crossover. The "Secret War" could have been between the writing teams, pitting their various "What If?" scenarios against each other, and this totally would have won.

So, that makes thirteen previews. I found four of them entertaining, two for decent-quality story (Civil War, Renew Your Vows), and two for ridiculously over-the-top entertaining concepts (X-Men '92, Mrs Deadpool). I'll also half a vote each to Weirdworld and Kitty Pryde/Starlord, which at least looked like they had some potential.

The bad news is, that's still only 5 out of 13.

Which amounts to (after generously rounding up):

Rating: 4/10

The Amazing Spider-Man 275

One of the older books in the random to-read stack. No idea where I got this one.

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue: 275
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: April, 1986
Writer: Tom DeFalco, Stan Lee
Artist: Ron Frenz, Josef Rubinstein, Steve Ditko
Colorist: Nel Yomtov
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Jim Owsley

From right in the midst of the original black-costume era, this story pits Spider-Man against the Hobgoblin, but more importantly, it pits Peter Parker against his own self-doubt.

It also includes a complete reprint of the original Spider-Man origin story by Lee and Ditko from Amazing Fantast #15 in 1962. In this case, the retelling of the origin is framed as a flashback related to Mary Jane Watson by Peter Parker, who is seriously questioning his second life as Spider-Man.

There is also a major soap-opera going in with Flash Thompson (presented here, disturbingly, as a domestic abuser), Sha Shan, Betty Leeds, and Ned Leeds. It is complicated, and melodramatic, and before the issue is over, the lives of these characters will collide with the lives of Spider-Man and Hobgoblin (well, it's hinted that there may already be a connection there).

Peter Parker's concerns about collateral damage, and his own failings, felt very real, and the discussion with Mary Jane about whether he should continue on as Spider-Man had no real straightforward answers, and writer Tom DeFalco did an especially good job of acknowledging Mary Jane's very mixed feelings.

Hobgoblin, meanwhile was in classic villain mode, operating as an enforcer for the Rose, who is preparing to challenge the Kingpin for control of New York's underworld, while really obsessing over his next encounter with Spider-Man.

It takes a while to get to the action, but once it gets going, the fight between Spider-Man and Hobgoblin is excellent.

This issue has a lot going on, most of it very good, a little bit of it cringe-inducing (Flast Thompson's scenes). The reprint is shoehorned in somewhat awkwardly, but it's hard to complain about getting one of the  greatest comic stories of all time as a backup feature, no matter how many times I've read it.

Rating: 7/10

Lost Nova: Altar Stone

Second review of the night. This is the second of two consecutive Lost Nova issues that I bought from the artist last summer at ConnectiCon. I reviewed the first of these here.


Title: Lost Nova: Altar Stone
Publisher: Lost Nova
Date: 2014
Writer: Stephanie B.
Artist: Stephanie B.

Fourth issue of this series, reprinting the webcomic. As mentioned in the previous review, the main webcomic site was down, but the comic is available at a mirror site.

The plot gets thickened quite a bit in this issue, as Vera's ship arrives in port, carrying Pyrena, the young runaway. Vera wants to get a look at a newly installed altar stone at the elvish city's church, but a racist priest is having none of letting any of the crew near the altar.

Vera resolves to get the look she wants the hard way: by breaking into the temple.

Pyrena has some great moments in this issue, including a hilarious reaction to the proposed act of breaking-and-entering, and a highly amusing argument on the merits of a salmon-roe crepe (I'm with Pyrena on this; salmon-roe crepe sounds awesome!).

Good worldbuilding in this issue, and a nice picking up of pace as far as the plot goes.
.

Rating: 7.5/10

Lost Nova: Euryale

It's crunch time. We head back to the US for five weeks, leaving in eleven days. If I'm going to get through this stack of unread comics, I'll need to pick up the pace, so I'll be having some multiple-review days coming up.

This book and the one that follows were purchases I made at ConnectiCon last summer. I reviewed the previous installment of this series here.

Title: Lost Nova: Euryale
Publisher: Lost Nova
Date: 2014
Writer: Stephanie B.
Artist: Stephanie B.

This is the third volume, collecting the webcomic of the same title. As of this writing, the main webcomic site was down, but the comic is available at a mirror site.

Pyrena continues to adjust to shipboard life, helping with the cooking and attempting to help with the ship's magical navigation, while Vera and her crew plan their next move.

Pyrena's awkwardness is on full display as she tries to find her footing among the rough company she's fallen in with, and has to deal with their possibly-unrealistic expectations of her.

This was definitely a transitional story, but the character development continues to shine.

I also absolutely loved the cover art. Just gorgeous.

Rating: 7/10

Archie #666

From the unread comics stack. I got this issue at a comic shop in the US last summer, just on the notoriety of it being the final issue of such a long run.

Title: Archie
Issue: 666
Date: July, 2015
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: Tom Defalco
Penciler: Dan Parent, Fernando Ruiz, Tim Kennedy
Inker: Rich Koslowski
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Editor: Victor Gorelick

An epic run comes to an end with the 666th (with a few offhand references to "the end" as the only acknowledgement of the infamy of that number) installment to Archie. This is an ending, but only for the purpose of rebooting the series.

The story here is that Archie has racked up 666 detentions, and it's finally about to get him expelled from Riverdale High. As the news spread, Archie's friends reminisce on the well-intentioned mayhem that has accompanied Archie, and they make plans to try to save him from having to finish high school across town.

There were a couple of sly references to some of the alternate-timeline Archie books that Archie Comics has put out lately, but otherwise, this story was bland nostalgia with a few sentimental moments.

The format of the book leans heavily on short flashbacks and light on new plot. That being said, the simple story was well executed and did a nice job of capturing the essentials of what makes Archie and his friends such enduring characters.

Rating: 6.5/10