This Week's Haul: Canada Day Delay
/Batman and Robin #2
Wow. Y'know, normally if someone said "hey, there's going to be a new series where Dick Grayson is Batman and Bruce Wayne's newly introduced ten-year-old son is going to be Robin" most people would say "Great. Call me when Bruce Wayne is back." But then if you add this: "Oh, by the way, it's written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely" that pretty much changes the game completely.
So in a world where I am not bothering to read any of the current Batman titles (actually...I did read Detective last week...and it was awesome), the Morrison/Quitely juggernaut is creating yet another beautiful masterpiece that forces me to pay attention to this World Without Batman nonsense.
So far, this book is meeting every expectation. This issue had a lot of Dick Grayson doubting his ability to be Batman. Alfred gave him a fantastic pep talk that I just loved. And Damian is being a perfect little brat.
Quitely is only drawing one more issue, at least that we know of, but I am confident that the comic will continue to be great. I hope. Because it's awesome.
Toy Story #2
I meant to mention this when the first issue came out, but this is just a delightful comic. It's perfectly written for kids and captures the spirit of the movies and its characters really well. I think there are a ton of great short stories that can be inspired by the Toy Story universe, and a comic book is a perfect place for them.
Captain America Reborn #1
Look sharp, Marvel Universe, because Daddy is coming home!
This was a good comic the same way that Brubaker's entire run on Captain America has been good. Well, great, actually. I was mildly bothered by how much Sharon looked like a teenager, and the fact that she was wearing a halter-jacket (?!) but other than that it was great. And it looks like Captain America's return from death is being explained away using deliciously ludicrous comic book pseudo-science. Hooray!
What I am really looking forward to is The Marvels Project. I love me some WWII-based comics. And some Namor!
Uncanny X-Men
I haven't been reading Dark Avengers, and I haven't been really paying attention to what's going to be crossing over into what over at Marvel. So I was really confused when I was reading this issue. I thought I had missed one somehow. I am kind of sad that some Dodson-drawn issues are being wasted on a storyline that I really don't care about. I did really like Namor's Frank-N-Furter-style entrance, though.
Jonah Hex #45
The second issue of a six-part Jonah Hex story, and I think it's working really well. The nice thing about the longer storyline is that we get to see all of the DC western characters teaming up: Jonah Hex, El Diablo, Bat Lash and Tallulah Black. It's pretty awesome.
Marvel Divas #1
You could describe this as Sex in the City with superheroes, but that would make it sounds really bad. And it isn't! At all! I honestly was not expecting much out of this, but I really, really enjoyed it. The writing was fun, the story was interesting, and the art was great and really suited the story. I look forward to the next issue.
Exiles #4
There was a different art team on this issue, and that kinda made a big difference for me. I was not into the previous art because it had a lot of clothing that looked like this:
But I do really enjoy this fun-spirited series about a rag-tag gang of dimension-hoppers. So I hope we can keep the art a little less distracting.
The Muppet Show #4
Each issue of this series impresses me even more than the last one. I really am just blown away by haw great this comic is. It's funny, it perfectly captures the spirit of The Muppet Show, it has long poems and songs worked into it, the art is fantastic, it's touching, and each issue has a compelling main story. It's crazy how good this comic is.
Tales Designed to Thrizzle HC
I am writing a review of this book for my local weekly paper, and I will post a link to that when it's up. Lemme just say, though, that if you have not read any or all of Tales Designed to Thrizzle you are cheating yourself. This is comedic genius. There is just no other way to describe it. And not only is Michael Kupperman a comedic genius, he is an incredible artist. It's a perfect storm. This book is $24.95, collects the first four issues in FULL COLOUR(!), and looks fantastic on a shelf. You should also follow MKupperman on Twitter. Dude is hillarious.
