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Hey
Kids! Comics!
Batman:
Gotham Knights #34
writer: Scott Beatty
artists: Roger Robinson and John Floyd
The possibility
of Bane and Batman being brothers seems like cheap shock,
but really, we should be jumping up and down with excitement.
If it turns out to be true, then something would actually
happen in this book that really changes things for good. (When
was the last time somebody mentioned "No Man's Land" in a
way other than to remind us that, oh yeah, it happened?)
But it
seems kind of unlikely, no matter how fun the image of Bane
riding shotgun in the Batmobile is. One, Alfred has a point
that Thomas Wayne just doesn't seem like the cheating type.
(Then again, that alone would sure shake up Bruce's world.)
Secondly, Batman villains never reform well. Just ask Catwoman.
Still,
it would provide something interesting for Bane, a decent
character whose reputation has been forever damaged by Joel
Schumacher.
Rating:
Daredevil
#38
writer: Brian Michael Bendis
artist: Manuel Gutierrez
Gutierrez
steps in for a 3-issue arc, and it helps to establish a slightly
brighter tone. The previous arc had an almost noir
feel, while already it's clear that Bendis is going for high-class
TV courtroom drama with this one.
A fairly
obscure Marvel hero comes out of retirement for one night,
just long enough to get arrested as a cop killer. Having fought
alongside The White Tiger in the '70's, Luke Cage and Danny
Rand beg Matt Murdock to take on the case. Whatever the outcome,
it will have repercussions for the superhero community, and
Matt himself. While his recent "outing" is still not one hundred
percent sure, enough people have doubts to watch the case
very, very closely.
If I've
seen Gutierrez' work before, it's a mystery. However, we should
be seeing him again. He has a sure hand in his line work,
able to balance action and quiet scenes with equal aplomb.
Had Bill Jemas recruited him for his Marville book,
some of the celebrity jokes might have actually worked. They
still wouldn't have been funny, but they would have worked.
Rating:
The
Filth #5
writer: Grant Morrison
artists: Chris Weston and Gary Erskine
When
in doubt, start making a lot of dirty jokes. From the opening
porn shoot involving Amish women being seduced by Satan to
its nightmarishly (and dramatically purposeful) final scene,
this issue of The Filth revels in a sophomoric attitude
toward so-called "adult" entertainment. But because it's Morrison,
it works better than it has a right to.
The Hand
takes on a vaguely supernatural film star with the unlikely
name of Anders Klimaaks, who shoots black semen. At first,
this is treated as merely an oddity, and Morrison gives us
Klimaaks (sheesh - it sounds like a Kirby porno book) as an
unreliable narrator. Maybe his manhood is harmless; maybe
it isn't. By the end of the book you will have decided. At
any rate, it's remarkable enough to be worthy of cleansing
by the super-secret psychotropic extra-dimensional whatever-the-heck-they-are
organization that purports to be the subject of this book.
And as
cool as this run has been so far, it's still pretty hard to
tell exactly what's going on and how everything relates. Each
individual issue has had some great mindbending concepts,
but longtime fans have to start fearing that this is going
down the same road as The Invisibles. At least the
run will be shorter.
Rating:
JSA
#41
writers: David S. Goyer and Geoff Johns
artists: Leonard Kirk and Keith Champagne
As cool
as this book can be, it has started to suffer a little bit
from juggling too many characters and subplots. We got a focus
on Power Girl a couple of issues back, and now she has apparently
disappeared utterly, as has Jakeem Thunder. Instead, the big
gun spotlight falls to the two Marvels, while powerhouse Nuklon
also stays hidden. Everybody can't be everywhere, sure, but
if a future warlord is coming to wreak havoc, you do try to
make sure you've got as much power on your side as possible.
Good lord, man, HeroClix has taught us all that.
Still,
Goyer and Johns do write the coolest book for continuity freaks
out there. And they do it without alienating new fans, too.
Who knew that Mr. Terrific had an archenemy from the future?
If Goyer and Johns say so, believe it. They know. But they
also make sure that in a few pages, we know all we need to
enjoy the action.
Cool,
too, is a reminder that Billy Batson still resides inside
Captain Marvel, harboring a revelatory crush on Courtney.
Black Adam's cruel remarks on that count are consistent with
his character without giving us any more clue to the evil
that may be lurking within.
Rating:
New
X-Men #133
writer: Grant Morrison
artists: Ethan Van Sciver and Norm Rapmund
As out
of control as The Filth gets, over in this book Morrison
continually proves that he can work with grand concepts and
still make them accessible. Consider this issue more of a
bridge between storylines, as we visit the X-Corporation offices
in India.
There,
unlike the rest of the world, superhero costumes are still
in vogue, and it's kind of nice to see the mutants back in
their finery. (Though a weird moment passes with people thinking
that Thunderbird was dead - clearly, a continuity thing that
my years of X-isolation ill prepared me for.)
While
rescuing a new mutant in Afghanistan, Wolverine encounters
the elusive Fantomex, and for the first time since Origin,
gets called by his real name. A nice touch, perhaps, but it
is kind of odd that for thirty years or so, nobody has ever
done so.
People
rave about Frank Quitely on this book, but honestly, Van Sciver
does such a great job that we should all just stop considering
Quitely part of the rotation. If Marvel keeps alternating
between Van Sciver and Igor Kordey, everything would be just
fine.
Rating:
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