louis whiteford Comic Reviews

It’s hard for me to judge just one issue of a comic like Invincible, especially an issue like this. I’ll just say that this here’s a comic in which Robot spends most of it murdering, or trying to murder people, and his last line of dialogue is “Oh well, let the slaughter begin.” As though he was playing nice before. There’s no end in sight to this stuff. Can you handle it? I gotta go read something lighter to decompress. Maybe Preacher.

The story improves again with issue five, and it might be the closest this comic ever gets to the bold, commanding action Mark Millar was once known for. The story is still shot-glass deep, but it's got a healthy sense of restraint, saving and savoring its best moments

Masterplasy is amazing. Art nerds should read this. David Cronenberg fans should read this. Comics are truly a visual medium and Masterplasty is one hell of an object d'arte. There's pages full of sketches, a Q&A with creator James Harvey, and a couple short stories in the back. All for six bucks! It's one for the ages.

Latour is going to be this comic’s secret weapon. His title cards look great, and I look forward to seeing more of them. Latour can draw fat people, he can draw gross people, and he can draw slabs of beef, probably figuratively and literally. Latour is the right guy for this comic. His art is gritty, but in a fun, silly way. There’s loads of contempt in Jason Aaron’s script, and in Latour, he’s found an artist who shares a distaste (and a love) in the subject matter.

This comic was great. Best humor publication I’ve read since The Eltingville Club. Probably the best comic I’ve reviewed since The Eltingville Cub. Get this one.

The sheer nastiness of the book can be overwhelming for some, but it’s the sort of thing I’ve been looking for. Dorkin said his characters were the sort of guys who wrote death threats to comic writers and actresses they didn’t like. There weren’t any this issue, but I hope he gets around to it. The Eltingville Club has proven it can make me uncomfortable. I want it to make me reeeaallly uncomfortable.

Even as much as it detracts from the 1969 aesthetic, it's still immense fun to watch the action unfold. (and honestly, why wouldn't this comic reference Mad Max? Just didn't expect it so soon.) The motorcycles are gleaming, the speed lines are plentiful, and the violence is gruesome. Long ride the Humans.

Characters are slowly developing. Even the security monitor men from last issue seem to be getting personalities. We're shown more and more glimpses of this terrifying society, and we're introduced to a different breed of compliant woman to combat the prison's NC's. Bitch Planet #2 is a slow burn with no real payoff, but after the bold, perfectly concise mission statement of issue #1, a little slackening can be forgiven. It's still great. It's still telling it like it is.

Bitch Planet is a comic that entirely succeeds at telling a story in 22 page chunks one month at a time. For the third issue, writer Kelly Sue DeConnick temporarily ditches the ongoing narrative and gives us a flashback to the early days of Bitch Planet's most resilient inmate, Penny Rolle. Robert Wilson IV fills in for regular artist Valentine DeLandro and colorist Cris Peter uses dot patterns to designate the flashbacks as flashbacks. This is going to be a regular thing as the series progresses, two issues of story followed by one issue of backstory. So far, it's working great, even if those dot patterns are the comics equivalent of playing harps to indicate that a character is remembering something. These storytelling tactics are also great marketing tactics, and they're helping to ensure Bitch Planet's place as one of the most heavily branded comics out there.

There's sight gags galore and the spoken jokes are on point too. The comic even has a solid backup story and a one-page gag strip to cap it all off. It's a lot of bang for your buck. Uncle Scrooge would be proud.

Ms Marvel is good. Read it.

This issue was a low-point for me. Not bad by any means, but not an overwhelming chapter in the story. I’m ready for things to wrap up.

Stray Observations - In this issue, Kamala openly refers to The Circle Q as her secret headquarters. I called that shit two months ago! Glad to see Ms Wilson also saw the continued storytelling and character-building potential in the convenience store.

As light as Wilson keeps the writing, Alphona's art is even lighter. There's background gags on every single page of this thing, sometimes one in every panel. The mobs of panicked citizens are all drawn with a cartoonishness exaggerated further than his usual characters, often freezing them in the silliest of poses. This exaggeration works as a content lightener, but considering how Alphona takes the time to draw different, distinct people, it also shows us a more realistically populated city than in any other superhero comic. All of these bystanders are nameless, but they all feel real. That sense of reality Alphona brings is the selling point of this issue. As a superhero event tie-in, this story's been told before, and it's probably being told all across the Marvel line right now, but it's never been told with such audacious, confident style.

Issue 33 was some pretty good stuff. I wouldn’t recommend newcomers to start here, it’s a pretty dense jumping on point, but I would recommend the newcomers to get caught up. Teenage Mutant Nijna Turtles is a great comic right now, and it’d be a shame for someone to miss out on what might be the best incarnation this series has ever had.

Okay, how can Slash sneak up on anybody? I hate it when Hulk-type characters sneak up on people.

Weird animals should be TMNT's bread and butter, but it seems like the weird animals are being underdeveloped if they're not teenage mutant ninja turtles. Old Hub has grown beautifully as a character, but I can't say that for the rest of the characters. I do appreciate how fast this comic can move. It takes forever for something important to happen, but all the weird little character shit has a neat, logical progression to it. There's not a lot of time wasted by characters explaining why they now have a cyber-enhancement suit, they just acquire a cyber enhancement suit and then start fighting entire gangs. Characters in TMNT are all about getting stuff done.

Get it together, Ninja Turtles. I know you have it in you. I called you “the best incarnation this series has ever had” when I started covering this book for Comics the Gathering. I’m already in this for the long haul. Don’t make me eat my words.

Mateus Santoluco is taking a break this month, but guest artist Cory Smith is a quality fill-in. Eagle-eyed readers might remember Smith from the Karai one-shot, or from the new Magnus Robot Fighter series he draws with Fred Van Lente. His art here is great. He draws Shredder and Krang’s meeting with the stiff intensity two enemies like this deserve, but it’s when the book takes a turn for the violent that it really starts to shines. TMNT #37 is a master class in building and releasing tension. I don’t know if I’ve ever cheered for Shredder so much.

TMNT has had a lot of ups and downs this year. It’s expanded the cast of characters, shifted allegiances, and messed with timelines in two excellent miniseries-Utrom Empire and Turtles in Time, respectively. What is hasn’t had is focus. Entire issues have felt pointless due to an overwhelming amount of dangling plot threads, while others have blown me away just for sticking with a character all issue long. Issue #39 is much more the former than the latter, but with execution this solid it feels like the writers might have unearthed the secret to getting this show on the road. More like this please.

The writing’s sharp too. Even though this issue is almost entirely one long fight scene, every character gets ample time to show off their personality. Tom Waltz easily could’ve let this thing write itself, dragging things out till Bebop and Rocksteady are inevitably defeated, but he gives us teamwork, camaraderie and some tantalizing details that add a lot to the general personality of the book. Mondo Gecko and Herman the Hermit Crab come into their own as characters, instead of falling back on the tropes that have defined their existence so far. I don’t know whose idea it was to have Mondo Gecko offer a fist-bump when Splinter requests a handshake, but it’s a great detail, and the comic is loaded with tiny moments like this that push it past a good issue and into serious achievement territory.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #42 was a rewarding treat for long-time readers and an appetizing treat for the coming brawls. Every mutant appears. Almost every mutant gets to do something. A solid effort. Can’t wait for the next one.

Still, for all the problems this comic has with hefty plot distribution, the plots in question are still enticing, and every one of them could easily be fleshed out into greater detail. Only the Mutanimals and Splinter receive what feels like amply page space, and maybe I’d feel displeased if those weren’t my favorite characters in this thing. The TMNT themselves are barely in it, but let’s face it, the bad guys are way more interesting and they’ve got all the cool plans. It’s a good comic, it leaves you hungry for more, and give the reader more than enough to ponder.

With the threats of Kraang and Shredder firmly established, smaller characters have been vying for our attention as TMNT races to the finish line. Bebop and Rocksteady have gone from one-note jokes to the scariest, most threatening guys in the series, and over the past three issues, Baxter Stockman has become the coolest customer in the TMNT universe. If TMNT is to end at issue 50, I’d like to order a spinoff about the villains, please. I’m not ready for the end! I demand more! And not because there’s so many more stories to tell, but because I want there to be. If that’s not the mark of a good series, I don’t know what is.

The bits of Hun this issue might be my favorite part of the story. Hun has long been the scummiest, lowliest character in this series, and this issue finds him drunk again, trying to reconnect with Casey, because now that there’s no longer a hit out on him, they can be a family again. Obviously, Casey is not into the idea, and they send Hun packing.After the technodrome affair, a creep like Hun just seems kind of pitiful. I didn’t think I’d ever see abusive, alcoholic parents played for laughs, but this comic pulls it off because it also shows us the power Casey gains from his new family unit. It’s not particularly nuanced, but it is very smart. It’s not common to see protagonist and antagonist agree to disagree and walk away without a fight. However, this issue’s finale promises at least one fight of epic proportions next month. The peace and quiet was fun while it lasted, but now it’s time for the mayhem.

In these final months, TMNT has become an ever-increasing snowball of action and plot, and the funnest ride in comics today. Rock on, turtles, rock on!

Low is packed densely with ideas, but readers should be glad it's comfortable enough to breathe now. The ship escape sequence this issue takes it's time, and turns a presumably frightening moment into a believably human cry of freedom. Stel and her son are now free to roam the ocean as they please, and this comic can go wherever it feels like. readers should be as happy as Stel to be out of the city.

This wasn't the strongest issue of Low. The beats felt much rehearsed, and character motivations were based more on ramping up the plot's difficulty than anything born out of their personalities. It's not bad, but it could easily be better with more focus. Low needs to simplify before it becomes a big mess.

As well as this issue worked as a whole, the best thing about it might have been the cliffhanger ending. Previous climaxes have felt forced, like the creators almost forgot to make something horrible happen and had to cram it in in the last minute. This one actually makes sense in the grand scheme of the characters' stories, and the immediate threat being presented. It doesn't hurt that Greg Tocchini's sea monsters look as awe-inspiring as they do terrifying. For once, the excitement feels genuine. It compels the reader to continue.

Tocchini crafts some devastating action out of his increasingly cool world, with some astounding, heavily paneled pages. He also uses the page itself for grand emotional effects, drawing panels that go all the way to edge as a means of creating tension. He repeats the trick on the last page for a touching moment instead, and it's just as great. This comic is worth it for Tocchini's art. He knows when to pull back, when to go nuts and how much space to leave in the background to draw an awesome submarine. The story's good too, but not quite as enticing.

Tooth and Claw #1 was a quietly satisfying first issue. It didn't shock with revelatory plot twists or hook with a premise too good to be true. It's not trying too hard to be different. It's only trying to be great, and in that respect, it succeeds wonderfully.

The best part about The Great Champion is Ben Dewey having the guts to draw his exposed genitals. There's nothing more frustrating than supposedly adult comics that have to cover up all the crotches. The worst part about The Great Champion is that he's a human. This comic is already built on a foundation of race and class struggle, so The Great Champion being a strapping, white, human feels like a big step backward. His first action of murdering the oppressed buffalos feels like a 100 meter dash backward. Surely, there's a reason for all of this, and surely Busiek will spend the future getting more familiar with the true nature of The Great Champion, but I'm incapable of caring. This is some very disheartening bloodshed.

Ben Dewey outfits Goodfoot with a Cable's worth of pouches and satchels to look the part of a survivalist. He also manages to squeeze some interesting emotion out of her animal features. Dewey's designs for the animals in this series have avoided using cartoonish distortion to emote, and it's fascinating watching him dig for depth out of rigidly realistic animal faces. It's a shame Kurt Busiek's writing isn't working as hard. The script feels content to wallow in old ideas, never subverting expectations or venturing outside age-old parameters. As long as Busiek remains within established conventions, Tooth and Claw will remain a second rate comic.

This comic is neither great nor terrible. It just kind of exists, which is a shame, because Ben Dewey's putting a lot of work into these pages, and Busiek, if nothing else, still has a perfectly solid concept under all these boring tropes that are filling up his comic.

If I could recommend this comic, I'd recommend it for the art. The story, despite adding some layers, is nothing new. The coloring is grounded in lots of earth tones, giving it a reverential, nostalgic feel. Perez's pencils have an elasticity that adds expressiveness to every character, and to reiterate my favorite part of the comic, I really like the way he draws Spider-Man.

he new status quo is a decent enough one. It's not the same ol Peter Parker action we know and love (or loathe.) This comic retains it's sense of familiarity, but there's enough new ground being tread that it feels different. Exactly how different, we have yet to see, but it's off to a good start.

Is it awful? Not by any means. It’s just not incredibly original. Is that bad? Not necessarily. But one issue in, all Princess Ugg has going for it is some nice uses of wooly mammoths. The comic looks like it’ll be a little too tame for any hardcore barbarian action, and I’m not so sure a school setting lends itself to action at all. Princess Ugg could succeed just fine on adolescent hijinks, but it’s appealing to desires I don’t have right now. I’d recommend Princess Ugg if you’re really into Nordic imagery, and/or have a serious jones-on for Wooly Mammoths. I’m being pretty harsh on a book after one issue, but as one issue, it didn’t entice me. The boarding school gimmick might be interesting to some of you too, but I’ll pass.

The story is a jumble of barely-there information that's poorly presented and poorly executed. Hawkman and Hawkgirl fight some gangs, then they make an appearance as civilians at a museum where they apparently work, only to reveal their secret identities immediately and fly off to fight giant hawks with demon heads. There's some rival Thanagarians trapped on Earth, and there's a magic dome trapping everyone inside the city. Frankly, it doesn't seem worth understanding. This comic is nothing more than a cash grab and a waste of one of our smartest, finest illustrators.