Month in and month out, across its long run, Astro City (DC Comics) has been a story about the human side of superheroes, and with an increasing focus on the people who never get the spotlight elsewhere, the people who live in the cities superheroes defend, going about their lives. The latest issue, though, cleverly picks up where an early story from the book’s run left off, with Marta, the lawyer who can talk to the dead.
This first issue of a new multi-issue story, with long-time writer Kurt Busiek and guest artist Carmen Carnero, is fascinating for many reasons, not least for its protagonist. Marta is a successful lawyer, middle-aged, never married, a fixture of the Shadow Hill neighborhood, named both for the mountain that blocks the sun in the later part of the day and the spooks and monsters that hide in its narrow streets. The story foregrounds the idea that you can get used to anything: Marta may summon ghosts and talk to mystical superheroes, but it’s all in a day’s work as far as she’s concerned.
At least, that is, until the Hanged Man, a mystical superhero of uncertain origin, pops up in her office and shakes everything up. It’s then that the story really comes into focus: Marta is in something of a rut. A comfortable rut, certainly, but a rut nonetheless. And it ends with the woman who talks to ghosts unnerved at the idea of supervillains, and struggling with the fact that on some level, she wants to move forward with her life. Astro City has always been about the “human” aspect of “superhuman” and it once again shows why it’s the best story about superheroes you’ll find.
Josie And The Pussycats #1, Archie
If you were expecting a sweet, Hanna Barbera-ish take on Archie’s house band, well, that’s sort of here. But Marguerite Bennett, Cameron Deordio, and Audrey Mok are up to a bit more than just reviving an Archie staple. For one thing, Bennett and Deordio can get amusingly raunchy; there’s more than a few sex jokes here ranging from the rather subtle on poor Pepper’s part to, uh, somewhat more direct from Valerie Brown.
That said, the book is an amusingly broad farce, not least because Mok’s sunny, engaging, manga-inspired work takes enough cues from Japanese comics without feeling like a slavish imitation of them — all while pulling from Josie creator Dan DeCarlo’s work while acknowledging the audience might be a bit more mature. If this book can keep its sweet tone, spiked with some more adult humor, Archie will have another winner on its hands.
Generation Zero #2, Valiant
Much like Joshua Dysart reinvented the superteen team book with Harbinger, Fred Van Lente and Francis Portela are bringing a new twist to it with Generation Zero. Van Lente’s angle is that his posse of superheroic teens means well, but they are also essentially orphans raised by a paramilitary organization to be soldiers, so they’re more than a little weird. Van Lente also smartly keeps the book focused on a normal teenager, Keisha, who finds juggling her police officer father, high school politics, and a team of superheroes who don’t exactly blend in a bit of a chore.
The book’s more melodramatic aspects are balanced out a bit by Van Lente’s thread of dark humor; this is a team book where one of the members is a psychic fetus who decided it didn’t want to be born, and two other members are creepy twins straight out of a horror movie. Portela draws it all absolutely straight, which is the most amusing part, although his slick, clean style can be a bit too unnerving in places. Generation Zero offers a welcome fresh take on a classic comics genre, and not to be missed.
Frostbite #1, DC Comics
Joshua Williamson and Jason Shawn Alexander deliver a new SF book with an entertaining hook; humanity is in its second Ice Age, caused not by environmental catastrophe but due to man’s arrogance with the laws of physics. Heat is at a premium, and everywhere is a frozen ice sheet with humans waiting for Frostbite, a mysterious illness that freezes people solid, to claim them. Of course, our band of heroes have a scientist in tow who might be able to cure Frostbite, provided they can just get to a secret lab.
Tarzan On The Planet of The Apes #1, Dark Horse
Tim Seeley and Fernando Dagnino deliver the crossover that really should have happened long before now: Tarzan of the Apes is stuck on a planet where the residents don’t like humans. But while it sounds like a gimmick, and on some level it is a gimmick, Seeley cleverly works out how to mix the sometimes convoluted plot of the Planet Of The Apes franchise with the pulp nature of Tarzan in a way that gives the story both emotional weight and some genuine mystery. It’s not something you’d expect, but it’s a welcome turn, and a cut above the typical crossover.
Deadpool Annual #1, Marvel: Remember Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends? The ’80s cartoon starring Firestar and Iceman, and they were all roommates? Yeah, this is what happens when Deadpool shows up, and it all goes horribly, hilariously, gorily wrong.
Lake Of Fire#2, Image Comics: Natan Fairbairn and Matt Smith continue their story of embittered Crusaders going toe-to-toe with vicious aliens in a book that feels like a cult movie from the ’80s, in the best way possible.
Blue Beetle#1, DC Comics: Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins deliver a brisk, snarky buddy cop take on the superhero comic that manages to take the best of both Jamie Reyes and Ted Kord and create something new.
X-O Manowar #50, Valiant: Aric of Dacia wraps up a thoughtful, thrilling run with an anthology of stories worth reading. Not least the last one, that tells us Aric may not be gone for long.
Witchfinder: City Of The Dead #2, Dark Horse: This odd diversion into Victorian horror continues with a clever tie into the Hellboy books that we won’t spoil here, and plenty of real emotional weight and Victorian pulp make for a great horror-action read.
This Week’s Best Collections
EC Archives: Weird Fantasy Vol. 2,Dark Horse (Hardcover, $50): Tales from the Crypt may be the best known EC book, but the same twisty writing and vivid, lurid artwork is on full display in this collection of classic ’50s SF comics.
Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu Omnibus Vol. 2,Marvel (Hardcover, $125): Marvel’s strange attempt to cash in on the ’70s kung-fu craze yielded some amazing comics, which have been hard to find until now. It’s expensive, but exploring the oddest books ’70s Marvel can offer is absolutely worth it.
Bloom County: Episode XI: A New Hope, IDW (Softcover, $18): Berkeley Breathed, after twenty-five years away, unexpectedly revived his classic strip on Facebook in 2015, and now those cartoons are finally in print.
