Various Recent Single Issues

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 by Grant Morrison, Chris Sprouse and Karl Story.

About a year and a half ago, Batman was sent back in time by Darkseid during Final Crisis. I haven't read comics from the DC Universe since Final Crisis (except for series on the sidelines, such as Secret Six and Nemesis: The Impostors), so I don't know much of what is going on in Gotham (I do know that Dick Grayson is Batman now and Damian Wayne is Robin). I am attracted to this series because it looks like it is going to be fun and because Grant Morrison is very good at writing weird stuff, so I am curious how he will return Bruce Wayne.

The first issue has an amnesiac Bruce Wayne in caveman times. He doesn't speak, as caveman don't understand him. He gets into trouble in the middle of a fight between two tribes and he has to flee. Overall, not much happens in the comic, but the comic is great. Several questions arise during the issue setting up interesting things for following issues, but at the same time, the issue has a self contained story that doesn't depend on the past or the future to be fun.

Overall, a great read, I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

The Last Days of American Crime #2 by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini.

I might be misremembering the first issue, but the coloring here seemed very different than what I remember from the first issue. Greg Tocchini is really good at drawing action scenes and his style is distinctive. However, I am not a fan of his close ups. The faces are too blurry for me.

With respect to the story. I like it. There are a lot of cool action scenes and there is one very funny moment. It is strange that the series is supposed to be about a heist, but the story hasn't really focused on much about the heist, there are too many things going around for the heist to get center focus.

I am liking the series. It seems like the third issue will come out late as the third issue was canceled, meaning that it will probably take 4 or 5 more months before it arrives. That is a bummer, but since the issues are almost triple sized, I can forgive them.

Haunt #7 by Robert Kirkman, Greg Capullo and Todd McFarlane.

This is the last of the issues I have ordered for this series. I am not in love with the series, so this issue would have had to be fantastic for me to keep going with the series. The last issue was great, but this issue wasn't great. The very first scene was ridiculous, I just don't buy gangsters acting so recklessly over someone they could just beat up. I don't hear of too many murders in the US, so I don't think gangsters just kill whenever someone insults them a little bit.

Robert Kirkman has two great series: The Walking Dead and Invincible, so I have been giving this comic a try for a while. If I hear great reviews in the future, I might give this comic another try, but for now, I am done with this series.

Marvel Origins by Fred Van Lente and many others.

Fred Van Lente is my favorite among the writers in charge of Spider-Man right now, so when I saw his name in the solicits, I decided to give this one-shot a try. I probably misunderstood what this comic was about. If I had known it was just one page stories retelling the origins of several Marvel heroes and villains, I would not have ordered this comic. Van Lente does a good job of telling us enough about each character, but for most characters I already knew their origin and for the ones I didn't, I didn't really care (except maybe for Dr. Strange). A few of the pages are not written by Van Lente, but by Jim McCann.

For a while I couldn't understand how Marvel could charge $3.99 for this. But I guess the answer is that, you are not really buying a story but art. Each page is done by a different artist and a lot of them are fantastic. My favorite was the page for Bucky Barnes (the new Captain America). The art consists of 4 vertical panels in the upper half and one triangular panel in the bottom half. The first and third panel are light colored, while the second and fourth have a lot of red in them. The bottom half is tainted blue. Overall, it gives the effect of the American flag, as we have red, white and blue with stars (as Captain America has a star on his chest and on his shield). It looks awesome.

Overall, not an issue I would recommend.

Without trying, the issues are ordered from the one I like the most to the one I liked the least.

Various Recent Single Issues

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow by Joss Whedon and Karl Moline.

This one-shot tells us a little bit of what happened to Willow between the end of the TV show and the beginning of the comic book series Season 8. Joss is as always perfect with dialog bringing in a lot of funny moments with his word play and his perfectly timed delivery. The story itself is not that great, but since it is a joy to read with the nice art and the great lines I would have to rank this comic highly. It is the best Buffy comic of the year (not that hard given the bad run on the comic book series).

Incorruptible #1 by Mark Waid and Jean Diaz.

Incorruptible is about a supervillain that decides to be a superhero. This first issue doesn't really tell us much. It shows how the villains employed by the supervillain are surprised at him helping cops and it shows how the supervillain tries to make a deal with a cop. Not much happens, but the series itself looks like it would be a fun ride, specially if you're reading Irredeemable as it is a companion series (Irredeemable is about a Superman like superhero who becomes a bad guy).

Chew #6 by John Layman and Rob Guillory.

The most recent Chew issue is #7, but Chew #6 is so good it deserves a nice post about it. The issue starts the second arc in the series. It starts great right off the bat with a funny moment at the detective office and it gets better with the bank robbery where Agent Cho thinks he has to eat poop to figure the case (Agent Cho has the power to eat something and get all of its history). Getting Cho's partner back from issue 1 is nice because he seemed to be a funny guy and we are confirmed of that in this issue. Great issue on a fantastic series.

Chew #7 by John Layman and Rob Guillory.

This issue is good but not as good as the series has been. The arc itself seems like its going to be a good one and a cool character was introduced but the issue wasn't as funny as others have been.
The art is top notch as usual. Guillory has been a great breakout in comics. I love his work on Chew. It is a crucial reason of why this series works so well. A fun cartoony style that can show the gore and the gross without making it seem ridiculous or out of place.

Amazing Spider-Man #611 by Joe Kelly and Eric Canete.

Just like Chew #6 is so good it deserves a post even if it is not the most recent issue, Amazing Spider-Man #611 deserves one too because of how funny it is. Joe Kelly manages to make joke after joke work perfectly in this hilarious issue. I highly recommend reading it to anyone.
With respect to the art, the art is almost distracting at first because it is so unusual, but after a while one gets used to it and then one gets to enjoy it because it is so full of energy (just like the jokes).
Fantastic issue. One of the best of the Spidey issues of the year, although for the best of the year I might have to pick something from Fred Van Lente who always knocks it out of the park when writing Spider-Man.

Irredeemable #9 by Mark Waid and Peter Krause.

This series has been one of my favorites of the year. This particular issue is not that great, but it is very interesting. Now that Plutonian is shown to be vulnerable, it is interesting to see how this affects the psyche of Charybdis, as his ego might be growing a bit too much.

The Last Days of American Crime #1 by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini.

Radical Comics has been a really cool new publisher that tries different things and this is an issue where that is exemplified. The issue is 64 pages instead of the standard 22 pages and it is only $4.99 (the standard is $2.99 but some even charge $3.99 for 22 pages).
Forgetting about the good price, I'd like to point out that the art is really beautiful and that the story is interesting. I am looking forward to the next two issues.

Daytripper #1 by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Ba (they co-wrote story and art).

This might be my favorite single issue of the year. The cover is great, the art is great and the story is great.
The story concerns an obituary writer on his 32nd birthday. On the day of his birthday, his father gets an award. But the story tells you a lot of information in very subtle ways, either through the art or by indirect dialog. You can only guess it is his birthday, it is never said out loud. You can only guess it is his 32nd birthday (32 is the title of the story). I like how a lot of the story is told by the images and I like how it begins with snippets from obituaries that the main character is writing.
Great issue, I am definitely going to read the series. The question will be to whether read it as the issues come out or wait for the trade.

God Complex #1 by Michael Avon Oeming and John Broglia.

I like the idea of a God living among people. The story has been told before but I wanted to read this comic to see what new idea can be brought to the table. This first issue is not great, but it is good enough to get me to read more of the series. The main character seems to be a bit too powerful to have given up godhood but maybe the powers will fade with time, or maybe the powers won't fade, I'll have to keep reading to find that out. I wouldn't recommend reading this issue.

Deadlocke by Arvid Nelson and Nick Stakal.

This is a one shot comic book. I was surprised that it didn't have any closure in my opinion. I thought there was good potential in the story but that there was not a good ending. Not a comic book I would recommend.

Sugarshock by Joss Whedon and Fábio Moon.

The one-shot is not great because it didn't include the last part of the story, however the whole story is fantastic. It made me laugh a lot. Joss really knows how to deliver the funny stuff and Fábio Moon is able to make the perfect images for this story. I highly recommend reading it. It is possible to read this for free online on MySpace Dark Horse