I’m into the comics I bought in March of earlier this year – the tantalising prospect of being up to date with my comic purchases draws ever nearer …
Astro City: The Dark Age Book Four #2
I’m sure that this is good, but I’ve given up caring about it. The Dark Age story has been going just a little too long, and I’ve never connected to the Royal brothers the way that I have with other characters in Astro City – this lack of empathy has made it seem even longer. I’m waiting for the end …
The Boys #40
This issue sees Garth Ennis ridiculing the Legion of Super-Heroes, which is a bit of a soft target and rather dated, thus making the jokes a little weak (although I can’t help laughing at the hero with Tourette syndrome, because I’ve got the sense of humour of an adolescent, a bit like Ennis himself). However, he also makes them endearing, helped by the art of Darick Robertson, who always make this book look better. This issue also sees Butcher get the wrong end of the stick regarding Hughie being in a relationship with superheroine Annie, which can only end badly … The Boys is looking good.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #33
The issue with the reveal (which was ruined several months previously deliberately, seemingly, by Dark Horse because the book wasn’t selling as well as it should) – Angel is Twilight. Yawn … At least there were some good jokes, such as Andrew dressed with Luke Skywalker’s X-wing helmet, an Iron Man glove, a Punisher logo, Captain America’s shield and a Bat utility belt, or the easy joke about Twilight the book/films [Buffy: ‘Y’know I lived that idea first, right? (And my vampire was so much better.)’]. Still, the comic is better than it’s been in a while.
Detective Comics #862
I still feel sorry for Jock having to follow JH Williams on art duties, but he does a good job because his craggy, sharp stylings are perfectly suited for Batman and Batwoman. He works well with Rucka, who sets up a nice parallel between Batman and Batwoman’s investigations/fights, which Jock draws really well. However, there is one fault to this story – Batman gets stabbed and knocked out of an ambulance by an ordinary man; this should not happen, it’s the entire point of Batman, that he’s better than normal humans because he has made himself so. Rucka makes up for it with the ‘Commissioner Gordon’s daughter?’ joke in the Question Second Feature, which is still well drawn by Cully Hamner.
Girl Comics #1
I really wanted to like this comic. Even though it is a stupid title, and it’s a rather sad state of affairs that Marvel has to publish a special mini-series created by women only, I’m glad that it exists and wanted to support it. However, I didn’t like this comic book – the cover by Amanda Conner is the best thing about it. I didn’t see the point of the Nightcrawler story (and I didn’t like the art by Ming Doyle), the Venus story by Trina Robbins is cute and clever but insubstantial, the Punisher story by Valerie D’Orazio is quite amusing for the first page but a waste of space for the remaining three pages, the Doctor Octopus two-pager is cute and doesn’t outstay its welcome, but the Franklin and Valeria story is an illustrated prose tale rather than a comic, and the final story by Devin Grayson and Emma Rios about the boring Scott/Jean/Logan triangle was rather weak on all fronts. I feel bad for not enjoying this book, but I doubt it makes me look any less bad for disliking a book created by women.
