These are my thoughts on comic books purchased just last week – I am finally up to date. I’m speechless. Better get my words down before I forget them.
Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #5
A month late, and a fill-in artist needed to finish the issue, but it’s Grant Morrison writing Batman, so I’m not complaining too loudly: Bruce Wayne, still unsure of his identity as he travels through time, finds himself being asked to help investigate the death of his own parents (Martha’s mother believes that Thomas Wayne had Martha killed). It’s a wonderfully bizarre mixing of the current story with the history of Batman, and Ryan Sook’s art is perfect moody noir art for the piece (even if it seems a little rushed in places).
Knight and Squire #1
An appropriate comic next – the spin-off mini-series starring Knight and Squire, the British Batman and Robin recently revived by Grant Morrison in his Batman run. Paul Cornell writes with tongue firmly in cheek (the rhyming slang on the first page is particularly fruity), as he introduces a whole world of British heroes and villains with that particularly British sensibility. And I do mean a whole host of British characters – the issue is full of completely new people; my favourites include the hero The Milkman, and the classic villains The First Eleven (cricket-themed villains who ‘never caught on in America, for some reason’). The story itself is mostly unimportant, and Cornell plays the British tweeness to the full, but it’s enjoyable and silly, which is fine with me. Jimmy Broxton provides pencils, and does a good job, making everyone distinct and drawing a reasonable pub. Bring on the next issue.
Morning Glories #2
As I explained before, I had Morning Glories on my pull list but Gosh! hadn’t saved me my copy for some reason, so it only turned up in my haul this week (because it was the second printing of issue 2). This issue sees our six protagonists having their Breakfast Club detention but with discussion about how they got there involving finding out about the some of the weird stuff going on in the school. They are being tested by the teachers, seeing how they work together as a group and how they react to extreme stress – in this case, flooding the classroom with water which doesn’t drain away and the windows are unbreakable. And the last page is another visual that makes sure you want to come back for the next issue. I’d still prefer cover artist Esquejo instead of interior artist Eisma, but the latter isn’t a bad artist, and Spencer has a good handle on the dialogue and the plotting.
The Unwritten #18
A few pertinent pages of the fourteenth Tommy Taylor novel. Callendar trying to get rid of Mr Pullman. Our Tom Taylor taking acid and communing with his father and his ‘sibling’. Finding out that the title of the comic refers to the villains of the piece, rather than to anything else. There’s a lot going on in this issue of The Unwritten, after last issue’s ‘choose your own’ story, and I’m not sure I’ve made all the connections. However, I did enjoy it, so Carey and Gross must be doing something right.
