The final part of my thoughts on the comic books I bought on 23 September, which contained my haul for the previous three weeks combined. Only two books remain
Books that I bought and that actually came out on 23 September 2010:
Fables #98
In which Red Rose steps up and lays down the law, showing how smart and tough she really is – putting Gepetto in his place, telling his bodyguards where to go (threatened with the dragon fire of the crow, Clara), listening to grievances, handling the religious issue by wearing a Blue scarf but channelling it for something more positive, and showing diplomacy with the selection of her privy council. There are some other good moments, such as Bigby surprising her by telling that he and Snow have got her back, and what looks like an Alan Moore-alike in the form of Thrushbeard. With additional story in the form of the young Totenkinder returning to the Farm to tell everyone that she has a way to destroy the Dark Man, and the usual excellent art from Mark Buckingham, and it’s another quality issue of Fables from Bill Willingham.
Fantastic Four #583
In which Valeria learns about the council of Reed Richards and decides to act upon her judgement of the situation: ‘What would Uncle Doom do?’ It looks like Jonathan Hickman is finally getting round to pulling the trigger on all the things he has set up, so this issue has a certain urgency to it for a change. He also tries unusual things in a regular comic book, having five wordless pages when Valeria goes through The Bridge. He’s helped by the ability of new artist Steve Epting – he has been doing good work on Captain America, so it’s a little odd to see his style here on the Fantastic Four. I’m not sure if his style is the perfect choice for the book just yet, but he is a good storyteller, setting the scene, showing scope and emotion – the epilogue at the end with the Silver Surfer shows his ability to demonstrate emotion through body posture and a grimace (combined with the single word, ‘Unacceptable’, it is quite chilling). An intriguing start to a new chapter in the title.