This is Gotham Academy, a monthly comic book set inside a prestigious boarding school for Gotham City's youths. It has a run-down gothic architecture. It boasts a disparate cast of teenagers. It may very well be haunted by something supernatural. It's all highly derivative stuff, but it's put together in a wonderfully engaging fashion by writers Brendan Fletcher and Becky Cloonan. Karl Kerschl's appealing cartoon-like artwork suits it very well. The whole piece feels like a delightful bit of whimsy that's suitable for all ages.
It also adds a badly needed extra element to DC's regular suite of titles. The publisher has plenty of grim, ultra-gritty comic books for thirtysomething male nerds, and certainly it wins the bodily dismemberment market hands-down, but it severely lacks bright, fun all-ages titles like this. If there's a risk with this book it's that its target audience have become so disinterested in DC's books that they won't even see this one is there. I hope not: it's nice to have the contrast, and it's a really entertaining comic. (4/5)
DC Comics. Written by Brendan Fletcher and Becky Cloonan. Art by Karl Kerschl.
Under the cut: reviews of Action Comics, Batman Eternal, Black Widow, Cloaks, Detective Comics, Gotham Academy, Lobo, Rat Queens, Silver Surfer, Thor, Usagi Yojimbo: Senso and The Woods.
DC Comics. Written Greg Pak. Art by Scott Kolins.Credit where it's due, Scott Kolins is improving as an artist. He pretty much ruined Legion of Superheroes for me two years ago, and since then has periodically cropped up on fill-in gigs with what always struck me as severely under-cooked, sub-par art. Here he's much better, and he's definitely developing his own unique style. If DC are going to keep using him, it's good that he's forming a higher quality and more distinctive presence. The story here is a very effective epilogue to the "Doomed" storyline, re-positioning the characters going forward in generally very satisfying ways. (3/5)
DC Comics. Written by Snyder, Fawkes, Tynion, Seeley and Higgins. Art by R.M. Guera.Solid writing and distinctive art don't make up for this book's continued focus on Hush. I keep hoping it's a red herring, but with each passing week it's look more and more likely that DC have elected to base their epic weekly around one of Batman's least appealing villains. It's a pity, because Hush's arrival has coincided with this book finally finding its groove - I suspect I'd be enjoying it a lot more with a different bad guy pulling the strings. (3/5)
Marvel. Written by Nathan Edmondson. Art by Phil Noto.It's another great issue for Edmondson and Noto's Black Widow. Last issue teamed Natasha up with Hawkeye, this one teams her up with X-23. It's a great pairing, and once again the creative team use each character's strengths to develop a stunning action sequence. The downside of this approach is that the over-arching plot is taking its sweet time developing; the upside is that we're guaranteed at least one world-class action sequence on the shelves each month. It seems a fair trade - this is the best Black Widow comic Marvel has ever published. (4/5)
Boom Studios. Written by Caleb Monroe. Art by Mariano Navarro.It's kind of strange that Boom Studios have two miniseries on the market at the same time based around stage magicians and espionage. The Last Broadcast, being published through their Archaia imprint, is by a country mile the better of the two, but Cloaks is still a broadly entertaining comic book about magicians being enlisted to work as secret agents. It's a slick, easily digestible comic, the second in a four-issue series, and you can see the Hollywood adaptation creaking behind the surface as you read. A necessary purchase? Not remotely, but it's still a pretty fun read. (3/5)
DC Comics. Written by Ben Percy. Art by John Paul Leon.Buccelatto and Manapul are taking a break while they prepare their next Detective Comics storyline, so as a fill-in for a few issues we're getting this storyline, "Terminal", from Ben Percy and John Paul Leon. And it's stunning stuff: an airliner comes to a shuddering stop at Gotham International Airport, with its entire crew and passengers dead. Now Batman has hours to stop a madman from infecting all of Gotham City with a virus. I don't recall seeing a Batman storyline set in an airport before; it's a stroke of genius to do so, and makes this issue feel like something very rate - an original Batman comic. The artwork has a lovely realistic touch that makes it feel like it's from the late 1990s, somewhere alongside Gotham Central. All up it's a brilliant opening issue, and I desperately hope the rest of the story is this good. (5/5)
DC Comics. Written by Cullen Bunn. Art by Reilly Brown and Nelson DeCastro.
DC Comics, bless 'em, are giving intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo his third shot at a monthly series. This is of course the New 52 Lobo: slimmer, less grotesque, kind of ordinary and dull. I was never the biggest fan of the original character, but at least he was distinctive and oftentimes rather funny (particularly in the Warner Bros Superman cartoon of the 1990s). Here he's just another mercenary-come-assassin. The art is sufficient but unspectacular, and the plot is fairly by-the-numbers. To be honest I can't see this one taking off with readers. (2/5)
Image. Written by Kurtis J. Weibe. Art by Roc Upchurch.Readers expecting a continuation of last issue's devastating cliffhanger are probably going to be tearing their hair out: issue #8 unexpectedly flashes back to showcase a pivotal moment in the adolescence of dwarf warrior Violet Blackforge instead. It particularly hurts because it's been about three months since the last issue of this supposedly-monthly book was released. So have a quick scream of frustration into a pillow, then relax and keep reading because Rat Queens #8 is a beautifully piece of work. It's a wonderful issue that works on its own merits too, so anyone who hasn't sampled this particularly sweary riff on high fantasy will likely enjoy it free of context. In the context of the overall series I suspect this issue will work very well, not simply as an interesting character flashback but as a 20-page expression of that character's life flashing before their eyes as they die. Assuming they're dying: they got stabbed three months ago so the jury's still out on how she'll recover. (5/5)
Marvel. Written by Dan Slott. Art by Michael Allred.When they pitched this book as "Doctor Who in the Marvel Universe", they weren't kidding. This hilarious one-shot sees the Surfer take his human companion Dawn out for a bite to eat and accidentally earns the ire of an alien planet's number #1 warrior. He is literally their number #1 warrior - he even has a badge on his shirt. It's genuinely funny stuff, with a story that takes a silly idea (a planet where everyone is ranked according to their primary skill) and runs with it one hundred per cent. Allred's art is, as always, utterly marvellous. (5/5)
Marvel. Written by Jason Aaron. Art by Russell Dauterman.Marvel's apparent allergy to high issue numbers strikes again: a few weeks after Thor: God of Thunder clocked up its 25th monthly issue, it's been cancelled and replaced. Long live the new Thor, renumbered at #1 for a quick sales hit and introducing an all-new story arc. As always I've skipped Marvel's big event series and now have no idea what precisely has happened to set up this issue. Odin is back for one thing. I'm not sure why or how. Thor is, for some unstated reason, no longer worthy to bear his magical hammer Mjolnir. So instead he grabs an axe and goes to fight Malekith the Accursed and some frost giants on the ocean's surface - like you do. The big sales push for this issue is that it introduces the new Thor, who is for the first time a woman. She doesn't really debut, however, unless you count the predictable final page cliffhanger ending. There's some great stuff going on here, and I suspect the next few issues will begin to sort it all out and make it clear. As a first issue it's very solid, although could benefit from a bit more clarity for those of us not reading Original Sin. (4/5)
Dark Horse. Story and art by Stan Sakai.Aliens have invaded feudal Japan, and it's up to Usagi and his companions to defeat them. It's difficult to review a Stan Sakai comic without resorting to writing the same things I wrote last month: beautiful black and white artwork with a genuinely loose flow to it, strong characters, neat period detail, and so on. The juxtaposition of alien octopuses piloting giant tripods with death rays, and feudal Japanese warriors performed by anthropomorphic animals, is kind of a weird one. It's testament to Sakai's skill as an artist and writer that it's taken me three issues to have that moment of clarity. (4/5)
DC Comics. Written by Brian Azzarello. Art by Cliff Chiang.
I honestly thought that this was going to be Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's final issue of Wonder Woman. It turns out that I was an issue early - this delayed book is the penultimate part, and instead it all wraps up in issue #35 on 30 October. It's broadly very enjoyable stuff: apocalyptic final battles, beheadings, gods, mortals, New Gods, life and death, you name it - the book's got it. It does feel like we're dragging things on just a bit too long, however; I feel like we've been on the cusp of the climax for about a year. (3/5)
Boom Studios. Written by James Tynion IV. Art by Michael Dialynas.This is a stronger-than-average issue, pushing along the journey through the monster-infested woods while providing a great flashback to one of the main characters. Calder hasn't been a stand-out character until now, but with the revelation of his back story and private life, he's suddenly become a lot more interesting and appealing. I'm still not entirely sure I'm happy with the overall direction of this book, but this issue at least was a well-crafted instalment. I actually hope this is the future trend for The Woods: a little bit of current-day plot development, a little bit of character back story. (4/5)
Winner of the Week: If you want to go creator-owned, Rat Queens. If you want to back the franchises, Detective Comics.
Loser of the Week: Lobo. Not bad, just not necessary.
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