Comics that have been purchased by me for my own enjoyment (and for my girlfriend’s, depending on which books she wants to read), including my witterings and nonsense words about them. I haven’t done this in a while, so it’s time to get back on track towards the goal: writing about books AS THEY COME OUT!
Astro City Dark Age Book Four #4
This book stars with the narrative box: ‘And the end, when it came …’, and boy, do I know how that feels. It’s taken a long time, but we’re finally at the end of the longest sustained Astro City story. I’m still too close to it to feel objective, but I did like the epilogue, with the brothers discussing the events with a writer and saying how the Dark Age ended the day the Samaritan turned up; it was the best part of the whole book for me. Not an endorsement, is it?
Batman and Robin #12
Oh, Grant Morrison, you merry little prankster you. Turning Damian into a hero, setting up things for the Return of Bruce Wayne series, and a delightful twist at the end with the reveal. I’m going to have to re-read the whole series again, just to enjoy it all over again. This series is really enjoyable, and it’s a shame that Morrison won’t be keeping it going for longer. I guess we’ll have to enjoy it while we can.
The Boys #42
This is one of those non-issues in the middle of a storyline where nothing much really happens, things are set up for happening in future issues. True, there is some nice Darick Robertson art, but it’s mostly Garth Ennis taking the piss out of superheroes, which gets tiresome after a while. Not one of Ennis’ best, unless you like lots of juvenile swearing.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #35
In which they try to explain the entire point of this series of Buffy, and fail pretty miserably. There are some funny lines in it – Brad Meltzer is more amusing than I gave him credit for – but it’s not enough to distract from what is a pretty silly idea about universe evolving Buffy and Angel to a higher plane or reality. No, really. And the return of Spike is dampened by the fact that Jeanty draws him with ridiculously small hands. The finale is going to have be spectacular to make me consider buying the next series.
I, Zombie #1
I thought I’d try this out because of the incredibly sensible promotion of a new series by Vertigo: offer the first issue of a new series for $1 so that new readers can try it out and see if they like it (instead of charging $4 for something people have no idea about – I’m looking at you, Marvel). Written by Chris Roberson and drawn by Mike Allred, this book is about Gwen Dylan, a functioning zombie in Eugene, Oregon. She works as a gravedigger, thus giving her access to fresh brains (she needs them once a month or she turns into the shambling type of zombie). She is friends with Ellie, a ghost, and with a werewolf called Spot, and the town has some unsavoury types in it, including people with guns and a vampire. Things change for Gwen when she eats a brain and the memories of the dead guy, who it turns out was murdered and is now screaming out for vengeance. It’s a good set-up for a Vertigo book, and Roberson does a good job of establishing the characters and the setting. Allred is a good artist, so it looks good as well, but it didn’t quite capture my ‘must buy’ instinct – I’m not sure why, but it just didn’t quite click for me. However, I might check out the trade paperback at some point.
