Trades for 10-29-12: Epting, Epting and Albuquerque

Hi all! Today I have not one, not two but three comic book trades for you. Ya dig?

Fantastic Four vol.4
collecting issues 583-588, "Three"
by Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting
$16.49, Amazon

Hey, I've never read any of Hickman's Fantastic Four before, and, thankfully, this library book was as good as any other. He starts right off the bat with an upset in one of the characters' status quos: due to exposure from the recent world they were exploring, The Thing sheds his rock skin and becomes a human-looking Ben Grimm what with hair and all. This makes for my favorite issue of the trade, in which Johnny Storm takes Ben out for a night on the town, and it's pretty touching. Check out who they have dinner with:

Get it? It's Stan and Jack. If ever you had any doubts about Hickman as a Fantastic Four writer, they're taken down right there. Ben Grimm also runs into the all-new, all-action Yancy Street Gang, a group of now-unemployed stock traders from the recession that bully unaware New Yorkers:

Nice one Ben! At the end of the issue, Ben goes to see Alicia, and it's an excellent scene.

Although it was my favorite, Ben's arc isn't the main point of the trade -- the reason it's called "Three" is that Johnny Storm dies in this storyarc, saving the world from another Annihilus invasion. I'm sure it was a big deal in 2011, when it came out. It's given its proper weight and it's heroic, but it's hard to be anything other than ambivalent about it. 'Cause, oh look, hi Johnny, you returned in issue 600 in 2012. Thanks comics.

Captain America: The Death of Captain America vol. 2
collecting issues 31-36, "The Burden of Dreams"
by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting
$10.19, Amazon

I read this one about two months ago so there's this huge gap between what I remember and what's actually there on the page. I skimmed through the thing when I was on the toilet, and I honestly can't tell you much more than, "Bucky reluctantly accepts the mantle of Captain America and handles the duties in his own way while still honoring Steve Rogers."

There's a story here, I'm sure, but until you've read all the issues in "The Death of Captain America," it's not really there. Re-readability works only if you read every issue together, and no single issue stands alone. It's won awards and prestige, but Brubaker's Captain America goes at a pace that I can't appreciate. But hey, check out Bucky's bionic arm whamming a dude by its own device

Hah! It'll be the new banner here eventually. This trade is labeled volume 2, but volume 1 is labeled "Winter Soldier" and collects issues 1-7. I get that this is the second volume for "The Death of Captain America," but that's a really cryptic way to label your paperbacks, Marvel. Boo.

American Vampire vol. 2
collecting "Devil in the Sand" and "The Way Out" back-ups (issues 6-11)
by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque and Mateus Santolouco
$11.42, Amazon

It takes a while for "Devil in the Sand" to get going, but by the third issue, you can really sink your teeth into it. Leave it to American Vampire to introduce new characters in the middle of the title and make them compelling. It's America in the 1930s, and we take the perspective of the sheriff of a small town in Nevada. You might have heard it -- it's called Las Vegas, and a few businessmen are attending the small town for the construction of the Boulder Dam. And it turns out those businessmen . . . are vampires!

Scott Snyder weaves a story that's about American industry and progress, as much as it's about a vampire class war, as much as it's about a small town sheriff and his world. While I was lukewarm on the first volume, the second volume is really worth your time.

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Trades, serials for today: Saga, America's Got Powers, I Kill Giants and more

I haven't been able to check my gmail in 3 days, so you'll forgive me if I haven't blogged in a while.

The time has been very useful to me -- I get to actually be alone with my thoughts, instead of putting them in the public and then be alone with them, after no one's commented.

Here's a look at the stuff I'm reading. These are actual photos because I don't feel like finding the scans online. Variety is the spice of life, eh?

Saga #2, by Brian k. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

America's Got Powers #1, by Jonathan Ross and Bryan Hitch

Avenging Spider-Man #6, by Zeb Wells, Mark Waid and Marco Chechetto

 

Saga introduces a new bounty hunter, who leaves just as quickly as she came. Nothing really moves forward in the comic, because our unlikely trio are still in deadly peril, but Vaughan's dialogue almost makes the issue worthwhile. It's Fiona's designs that clinch it. The end of the issue solicits a reader survey, and I'm interested in doing this. Anybody else on board?

America's Got Powers: Bryan Hitch is insane. Ross takes a lot of time to build a small world that we're already familiar with, and I'm wondering if the page economy could have been improved. But, Image is doing something different and I'm willing to support it for an issue or two.

Avenging Spider-Man: Leave it to Zeb to nail down three different voices here. You get the idea of who Daredevil is, Spider-Man as well as Punisher and his ally Punisherette. Give them to Chechetto and you get some crazy good super-comics with some crazy good layouts.

I could have spent my money on something else. I could have gotten a milkshake instead. I'm glad I got comics.

But now I want a milkshake.

I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura

Transmetropolitan vol. 1: Back on the Streets, by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson

Welcome to Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave, by Gail Simone and Horacio Domingues

 

I Kill Giants has some great cartooning in the way of Niimura. Fifth grader Barbara Thorson tries to escape her home life by creating an imaginary world, and with the help of her friend and the school psychologist, she learns that she's stronger than she thinks she is. It's a story that's all-too-rare in comic books, and I'm glad to read it.

Transmetropolitan contains the three-issue debut of the Vertigo comic, and it's a great thesis statement for the series: Spider Jerusalem returns after a five-year hiatus to journalism, and he learns again how messed up the world is. It's a great, darkly humorous piece of cyberpunk. I'll read the next volume if my library has it.

One Foot in the Grave is Gail Simone's continuation of the Wildstorm comic, and it's a bit weaker in its dependence on soap-opera-style dark pasts. With less vintage flashbacks than the first, the story here is still a story, but not one I'll fondly remember.

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Serials for today: AvX #0, Flash #7, etc.

TIt's an all-new, all-action Wednesday! I hadn't visited my local shop in the past three weeks, due to finals and spring break, so imagine my excitement to see Comix Revolution packed today! Fathers brought their sons, people brought their friends. It's an exciting time for comics, and it's an exciting time to blog about them.

American Vampire #25
by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque

Issue 25 is the conclusion to the four-part "Death Race" storyline, and it couldn't come sooner. The fight/chase scene that started four issues ago comes to an end, and it turns out to be a disappointing one that draws on prior knowledge from another storyarc. That's a big problem: when I jumped on with issue 22, I expected a self-contained story. Instead, I got a four-issue fight scene that ended in a stalemate with a hook that depended on my reading the previous storyarc.

I've dealt with this enough to drop the title. American Vampire expects the reader to be reading it as a trade, so it's a title I don't need to be picking up serially.

AvX #0
by Bendis, Aaron, Cho and Keith

I picked this up on the strength of the free preview -- and I'm glad I did! Bendis pens a story with Frank Cho, on the Scarlet Witch, while Aaron takes on Hope Summers, with Frank Cho. What results is a solid introduction to these two ladies of Marvel. I'm not exactly sure how this leads into the Avengers beatin' on the X-folks, but I'm willing to read more.

Cho's storytelling is really stunning, and he's so creative with the way the characters pop out of the panels. Even at $3.99, this issue is not to be missed.

Daredevil #10
by Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera

Dig that cover! It looks like a dime novel, or a pulp magazine. Daredevil finishes his tour of the underground in this issue -- and it's a doozy. That fourth page, where he escapes the trench monster is undeniably brilliant.

What follows is Matt's confrontation with the Mole Man, as well as his confrontation with the mortality of the human body. It's an emotionally tough scene, and Matt deals with it in a cathartic, positive sense.

A few highlights:

1. Daredevil questions Mole Man, expecting the guy to do something with the corpse, but Mole Man admits: he just wanted to spend one more moment with her, even dead. This being comic books, Daredevil figures Moley's up to something, maybe to even resurrect her, but he's not. This time, the Mole Man is the reality check, because he knows that dead is dead.
2. Daredevil carries back Lorna's corpse to the surface -- ignoring all the other corpses, because he knows he can't take them all back. He doesn't have the strength. Instead, he takes pieces from the Valley of Diamonds, and makes new tombstones for the dead, with those pieces embedded. It's a beautiful compromise that respects the fallen.
3. There's this excruciating page of Daredevil, holding Lorna's body, walking through the bed of corpses that the Mole Man unearthed. Totally broke my heart.

The New Deadwardians #1
by Dan Abnett and I.N.J. Culbard

Is there enough room for another vampire story, let alone a vampire comic? I think so: Abnett and Culbard take us to Victorian England, in which the upper class are vampires and the lower class are mindless flesh-eating zombies. Abnett excels at the world-building here, and you get a good sense of George Suttle, Scotland Yard's sole homicide detective (because everybody's already dead!).


The murder mystery comes from the death of a "young," a teenage vampire, who hasn't been decapitated, who hasn't been incinerated and who hasn't been impaled and who hasn't been gobbled up by a restless (zombie), but is dead nonetheless. It's a head-scratcher, and I'll stick with it for the rest of the seven issues.

The Flash #7
by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato

This is the conclusion to Captain Cold's two-part return, and it's not bad. The writing still has to catch up to how amazing the art is, but I think it's getting there, a step at a time. Captain Cold's storyline ends pretty much how you expect it to, but there's a lot of other things to juggle, specifically what people think the Flash did, what he really did, where people think Barry Allen is, where he really is. I can see why readers would be lost.

There's this part where Patty Spivot breaks down in tears, because she never got a chance to tell Barry that she loved her -- because she thinks he got sucked up in the wormhole that the Flash created -- because that's what happens when the Flash runs too fast -- that part comes off as a little disingenuous, because we all know that Barry's all right! Don't worry Patty!

Otherwise, I love the cliffhanger, I love holding the two-page spreads at arm's length, and just looking at them and I love The Flash. It's only going to get better.

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Wednesday's comics, today: Chew #24 and more

We're going to change the schedule a bit in the coming week. I advertised some trade reviews for next week, but these will be pushed to the week after. I'm going to take a break to deal with the Real World, but I have a few backlog posts. Here's what you can expect from me next week:

• A recap for February's comics
• a conclusion of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
• and
• whatever the hell else I felt like talking about

That's next week. This week, I got a few comics, so here are they are:

American Vampire #24
by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque

This is the third part of the four-part "Death Race," and it's not any better than the second. Scott Snyder maintains the same methodic-but-slow pace without taking the real-time story anywhere else. There's this trend for quick, wordless panels that convey small actions, but these are overused. Do we really need three panels in a half-page to show, "Young Travis walks suspiciously from one side of the Doctor's door, to the other." Television shows can afford to include this decompression, because they can convey motion in mere seconds, but comic books are visually static. Snyder employs these wordless panels in a substantial number of pages, and that hurts the story, because it fails to move forward. I can't imagine anyone purchasing this comic book issue for the single issue itself.

The creative team has a high pedigree, and this issue did not match it. This is going to read better in trade format, in a collected reading experience, but it fails by itself, as a single reading experience.

The Flash #6
by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato

Have you seen the variant cover for this, by Mike Choi? It's so baller. I love the use of the logo.

This comic book issue follows, in that it's also baller visually stunning. Captain Cold brings in his own color scheme, creating a snow-y backdrop in Central City. This turns the background into this vibrant white that highlights the literal clash between his color (blue) and the Flash's (red), cold (blue) vs hot (red). It's exciting just to look at.

Where American Vampire had these panels that looked empty and required only a glance, every panel managed to look substantial, without getting crowded by dialogue bubbles. The Flash manages to convey more information in 3 panels on a page than American Vampire does in 10 panels on two pages.

Here's an example of the colors I was talking about. Look at how Flash's costume lining, normally yellow, turns bright blue in Captain Cold's presence, because he's slowing down the Flash's molecules. It's a wonderful detail.

Look at the dialogue too: Flash is stuck on why Captain Cold changed his powers, but Captain Cold answers quickly, "Don't need 'em!" He isn't concerned about the past, because it's not going to help him: he wants to move forward, and that's the tone that the creative team's been taking this entire time. They're interested in telling new, exciting stories with old characters, and they're interested in pushing the medium to do it. The script itself for this issue is nothing innovating, but these guys can only improve, and I look forward to that every month.

Chew #24
by John Layman and Rob Guillory

I don't have to read comic books. I could go play Wii with my friends, or talk to people on Facebook or, heaven forbid, exercise. I could even read more about Daredevil online, instead of picking up Daredevil the title.

But I choose to read comic books. I choose to spend my time every week to look at the weekly issues, and I even choose to talk about them online, because comic books have two things that nothing else offers. They offer a serial experience, and a visual experience, and this comic book in particular nails both of them. Visually, Guillory brings an attention to detail that nobody rivals. Every panel has life to it, and rewards the reader who takes the time. The first scene, at the butter sculpture competition is full of these small details, like a Paula Deen banner and an Eiffel Tower made out of butter.

Serially, this is the ideal comic book issue. The story itself is self-contained and we get a full story from page 1 to 20. But, when you read it in the larger context of the storyarc, it brings new depth to the story. When I put this in my comic book pile, I'm going to organize my issues of Chew, and I'm going to re-read those issues one after another, and it's going to be awesome.

If you haven't heard of Chew yet, get your bad self over to the first free issue at comixology. Tell 'em Kevin sent you.

If you have heard of Chew and you did purchase this issue, go to the letters section. Do you recognize a certain Kevin Tam in there?

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Serials for 1-25: The Flash #5 and more

The Flash #5
by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato

Central City in a blackout! Iron Heights in a prison break! Mob Rule in an electromagnetic generator! Only the Flash can handle all three: Speed Force is GO! The two-man team of Manapul and Buccellato continue to push Barry Allen to the limit, and we see some form of a conclusion to those three plot points -- Mob Rule is put to a stop, even if it's temporary; Central City is brought back to power, and Iris West is saved from Iron Heights.

The creativity from these guys is remarkable. Manapul frames the pages in such a clever manner, and there are 3 two-page spreads from this issue: all of them magnificent. Barry's taken on some herculean feat as he discovers his powers, issue by issue, and issue 5 is no different: he uses the speed force to carry two supply boats along his slipstream for the savvy civilians of Central City!

The visual storytelling is a total knockout and the pacing is relentless: The Flash is a hell of a comic book.

American Vampire #23
by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque

"Death Race" continues in this second part of four. The immediate plot doesn't move forward, so much as there are flashbacks. If you'll remember, the meat of issue 22 was told in a flashback as well, but it was a strong flashback -- we learned who this crazy teenager, Travis Kidd is, and what he does for a living: hunting vampires, in an exciting way. In this issue we learn about why he hunts vampires (parents were killed by one) and not much else. That's it. The serial experience doesn't seem to be a priority for this issue, which makes it weaker than the previous.

Secret Avengers #21
by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen

It's Warren Ellis's goodbye issue! You'd expect the Secret Avengers to finally take down the persistent terror organization, the Shadow Council, but the issue focuses instead on the takedown of one of its many machinations: a cross-dimensional breeding experiment gone wrong in the subbasement of an anti-terror building.

What a mouthful! Where the previous issues focused on a single Secret Avenger or maybe a pair, this issue involves all of them, taking down the monster and escaping safely. There's not much room for character development, and although I feel Ellis could have done more with a few pages, Immonen keeps up with the action-movie pace and together they make a nice, stand-alone conclusion of a story.

Last serials for 2011: The Flash, American Vampire. . . .

Here it is, folks! The last Wednesday's brought a new set of comic book serials for the year 2011. And what a Wednesday it is. My sister gave me a giftcard for Chicago's local chain, Graham Crackers Comics, so I've taken the opportunity to try out a few funny books I wouldn't have otherwise. Today we're looking at not two, not three, but five titles. Let me know what you think.

American Vampire #22
by Snyder and Albuquerque

Dig that cover! Rafael Albuquerque returns to American Vampire and the word from the bird is, he's cookin'! Continuing with the vampire in American history, Snyder tells the first of the four-part story of a teenage rebel with a cause: hunting down the vampires in his area. Also, he gets a malted milkshake. Oh god, I love America in the 50s.

Albuquerque's inks aren't as polished in a few panels, as much as I'd like, but still refreshing to read. Snyder presents a "bad-boy-whom-the-parents-won't-approve-of" story and makes a plot twist -- with vampires! I'm definitely sticking around for next ish.

Captain America #5
by Brubaker, McNiven, Camuncoli and Leisten

I'm dropping the title with this issue, and I say good riddance. Cap and the gang beat up the bad guy, while the other bad guy escapes to sow more discontent and doubt in Cap's mind.For five issues, the conclusion is more simple than I'd like it to be, and the issues don't seem interested in providing much more story. Without much of a story value, and without the art from Steve McNiven, I'm not enough of a Cap fan to stick with the $3.99 title.

Captain America & Bucky #625
by Asmus, Brubaker and Francavilla

But I'd still rather read about Captain America. There's some blogosphere hype surrounding Francavilla, and the title's still reasonable at $2.99, so I picked up the new storyline. It turns out Phineas Horton, the creator of the android Human Torch, also made a second android: Adam II, who went on to create its own droids. Cap investigates with the grandson of William Naslund, the man who succeeded our Cap and was killed by Adam II. CLIFFHANGER: Oh snap is that android Bucky Barnes?

There's a lot of backstory to wade through, but the craft is competent enough that I'll check out the next part. Did you get this issue? What did you think?

Daredevil #7
by Waid and Riveras

 This came out last week, but I decided not to visit my shop last week. Paolo Rivera returns for a one-shot, in which Daredevil sherpherds a bus-full of blind kids to safety in a snowstorm. The ending is particularly inspiring, but, well, I work with 1st- and 2nd-graders, and it'd be grand to think they'd do that on a field trip (they wouldn't).

Normally I'd recommend Daredevil furiously, but I don't think anyone would enjoy this issue unless they've been keeping up with it to begin with. Consider the Spider-Man crossover next month -- I will be picking that up. Also, what happened in the last page of this issue? Did somebody dig up Jack Murdock's grave?

Flash #4
by Manapul and Buccellato

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Wow. Manapul takes some cues from Batwoman's J.H. Williams III, and makes some insane layouts to frame flashbacks and stories within the main story. There's a lot of it in order to explain Manuel Lago's backstory, and it looks fucking fantastic. Barry Allen gets the last few pages in order to show us how he survived a bullet to the head, and the entire sequence, words and images, is nothing short of glorious.

Pick up this title! Best new title of 2011.

Trades for 8-29: Batwoman, American Vampire, Usagi Yojimbo

Batwoman: Elegy collects Batwoman's starting takeover of Detective Comics, from #'s 854-860. And it's only kind of a hoot. Greg Rucka carries over Batwoman's story from DC's year-long 52 epic. If you didn't catch it, I highly recommend it, but here's Batwoman's part: the crime cult in Gotham attempts to fulfill a prophecy in the Crime Bible by murdering Batwoman. They fail, and their leader dies, and a new lady takes over in Elegy. What follows is Batwoman's struggle with this new leader, who speaks only in Lewis Carroll quotes and is ridiculously cryptic. It was really hard for me to take Batwoman as a main character until the last few issues, which detail her life as a military brat, following her parents wherever they're stationed. On the art side, J.H. Williams is freakin' brilliant you guys. The layouts alone are worth a look and distinguish Batwoman from her caped comrades. The latter issues somewhat redeem the main story, but the main story is mediocre at best.

Usagi Yojimbo Book 1: The Ronin collects ten stories of Usagi Yojimbo, the masterless rabbit samurai! And it is certainly a hoot. Usagi wanders across Japan amidst political intrigue, treacherous bandits with a code to help the people he runs into. My two favorites are "Horse Thief," where Usagi chases off a bandit raid, finding a free horse left behind. When he goes into a village, the magistrate claims that Usagi was one of the bandits who stole his horse, so Usagi takes off, giving the horse to a poor farmer who needs to tow his crops. As it turns out, the magistrate stole the horse from the farmer to begin with! making a satisfying karmic loop. Another of my favorites is "Blind Swords-Pig," in which Usagi meets an talented swords-pig who senses his opponents through smell. Short-form stories need to rely on lots of color in supporting characters, and Stan Sakai has that in spades. Looking forward to vol. 2.

American Vampire contains the first five issues of the Vertigo series, from Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque and Stephen King. The stories detail the rise of both the American film industry and the American vampire in 1920s Los Angeles. These vampires are different from the burn-in-the-sun, Bram Stoker vampires, and they're hungrier too. Rafa draws the heck out of every page, and he's an excellent storyteller. Check it out for Rafael Albuquerque alone. I just one gripe: the collection is issue-by-issue, and the singles came out with a main story and a side story. They really should've chunked the main story together, followed by the side story. If I wanted to read it like the singles, I would've bought them as singles!
The first collected edition of