Age of X-Man was a very interesting event, which played with dystopia in a manner that the X-Books hadn’t really done before. However, leading into it and running parallel to it was Uncanny X-Men Volume 5 which, frankly, was something of a slog.
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This month I’m taking a look at the Dark Horse Comics adaptations of the original Thrawn trilogy.
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There is running theory in stories with romances that the chase is better than the catch – that once characters in a romance get together, there is no motivation to continue the story. These are people who never watched Hart to Hart nor are familiar with Nick & Nora Charles. In the X-Books, probably the biggest of these romances, almost as much if not more so than Scott Summers and Jean Grey, was Gambit and Rogue. However, during the planned wedding of Kitty Pryde and Piotr Rasputin, things ended up not happening, leading to Rogue and Gambit basically deciding to take advantage of the opportunity and the two X-Men who could never tie the other down decided to get hitched.
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This past year, when Marvel comics brought back Logan, someone else had already taken on the mantle of Wolverine – Laura Kinney, formerly known as X-23, complete with having her own book branded as All-New Wolverine. Marvel editorial decided that rather than letting Laura keep the code name (as they’ve done with the multiple Hawkeyes), Laura would renounce the code-name, and her book would re-launch and re-brand. Unfortunately, it causes this book to be something of a step back from All-New Wolverine in multiple respects.
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There aren’t a lot of fantasy comics out there, and the ones we get in the US are generally licensed from another property, whether Games like D&D or Pathfinder, or literary works like Game of Thrones, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, or Conan the Barbarian. So, when Marvel got the license to Conan comics again, I was interested, and when they re-launched their classic Conan titles – Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan, I added those books to my pull list.
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Recently Marvel announced that, as part of Jonathan Hickman’s upcoming run on the X-Men books, the X-Line would be contracted to just two books – House of X and Powers of X, each with a 6-issue run. According to an interview with ComicBook.com, the decision was pitched by Hickman essentially to create a jumping on point for the line for new readers.
The argument makes sense – two books are cheaper than 10 and require less effort to keep track of a story across those books. However, the fundamental idea of the Mutant Metaphor – of Mutants being representative of multiple discriminated minority populations – requires representation not only in the form of the characters on the page but also in the form of the people writing stories with those characters.
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DC Comics: Zero Year is meant to be something of a starting point for various characters in the DC Universe, showing Superman, Batman, and Catwoman in the early days, if not the start, of their superhero careers. The book also shows Dinah Lance, Barry Allen, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, John Stewart, and Oliver Queen either before they started superheroing or, in the case of Barry and John, before they got their powers.
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This time we conclude the Dark Empire trilogy with Star Wars: Empire’s End.
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I’m returning to the Star Wars comics this week with the conclusion of Dark Horse’ Star Wars Droids ongoing.
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This week I have a review of an anthology comic from Kodansha set in the universe of Shirow Masamune’s Ghost in the Shell.
One of the ongoing criticisms of Batman as a character is he’s a superhero whose stories solely consist of “punching brown/poor people and the mentally ill,” and at no point does he use his money to address the social ills that affect Gotham. It’s a criticism that frustrates me because, all the way back in the ’70s, you had writers like Denny O’Neill addressing this – with Bruce Wayne using his funds to address the underlying issues affecting Gotham, while Batman contents with those who would exploit those issues for their own gain.
Batman: Night of the Monster Men is the first post-Rebirth Bat-Line crossover, with all three of the main Bat-Books (Nightwing, Detective Comics, and Batman) crossing over to deal with the larger threat of a series of, for lack of a better term, Kaiju attacking Gotham City at the same time that a major hurricane hits the city, with the Bat-Family having to contain the monsters while investigating their source.
Rise of the Batmen is something of a launch for a new status quo for Detective Comics in the post Rebirth DCU. Someone is putting together a literal army of Batmen – a black-ops team with skills comparable to members of the Bat-Family, except they’re willing to use deadly force. So, Batman puts together his own team to stop them. (more…)
With the release of Deadpool 2 this past year, a whole new range of audiences were introduced to Wade Wilson’s grumpy-Gus soldier from the future buddy, Nathan Christopher Askani Summers, aka Cable. Consequently, Marvel also put out a new Cable book, with a mid-volume shift in the numbering to line up with Cable Vol. 1’s numbering. However, what it was not was a buddy-book with Deadpool, Cable was at the fore of this story. So, the question is, what kind of story does the book tell?
While in the main Batman book, after Flashpoint, Scott Snyder jumped more or less straight into the Court of Owls storyline, over in Detective Comics writer Tony S. Daniel has a couple stories that fit in a little more with members of Batman’s existing rogues gallery – with a story featuring two existing members and re-interpreted versions of a couple others. (more…)
I’m continuing with Dark Horse’s run of Star Wars comics with probably one of the most beloved spinoffs not created with Timothy Zahn. (more…)
This past year, after the Death of Wolverine event, Laura Kinney/X-23, far too briefly, took on the mantle of Wolverine. I’ve read most of that series, and thought, with Logan’s return, I might as well give my thoughts on this series. (more…)
Moving back to Dark Horse comics, we have Louise Simonson returning to the Star Wars universe with Dark Horse Comics (more…)
I am someone who likes Superman, but who has not read a lot of Superman stories. I’d read some Superman pre-New-52, and I read a bit of the Post New-52 Superman in the trade, but kind of fell off of reading that series. I decided recently to jump back on to Superman with the post Rebirth DC Comics universe and was interested in seeing how this turned out. (more…)
When Flashpoint ended, the comic dropped a little hint suggesting that the new DC Multiverse could end up incorporating the world of Watchmen, because in the Batcave, embedded in a wall, was The Comedian’s Button. Batman/Flash: The Button follows up on that revelation, as Batman and The Flash try to figure out what The Button exactly means. (more…)
I’ve been a fan of The Shadow for a long time. I’ve enjoyed his outings in the pulps, the radio plays, and even the film featuring Alec Baldwin. However, at least in the late ’80s and early ’90s on, comic book writers haven’t quite known what to do with him. The best depictions of the character after that time I’ve encountered have effectively skipped over any idea of characterization for the character, in favor of making him a force of nature, or an unknowable cipher, instead of giving him grounded motivations. (more…)
Not to get overly reductive in the way that is often mocked when people talk about criticism on the internet, but maybe a better title for Death of the Family is Fridging of the Family. (more…)
Continuing with my look at the Star Wars Expanded Universe with a stand-alone story from the creators of Power Pack – Louise Simonson and June Brigman. (more…)
This time I have the most violent Star Wars comic I’ve covered to date. (more…)