Every year, DC and Marvel stage big crossover events where every book in their line has to fight a monster or deal with the fallout of some event, inevitably in a separate miniseries, and honestly, these events are always a mess. Leaving aside the pile of miniseries and supplemental materials, watching a company’s books get brutally derailed as their creative teams struggle with an editorial dictate from on high is frustrating. So it’s an act of creative judo that the creative team of Mockingbird (Marvel), smack in the middle of their company giant, grim crossover event Civil War II manage to deliver a “tie-in” that doesn’t compromise their work.
Mockingbird has, over the last five issues, been a lighthearted romp of a title with serious issues just around the edge. The first arc dealt with what happens when you’re regularly exposed to alien technology, experimental serums, and death rays as part of your day job, and this issue deals with the fallout of Civil War II, where Hawkeye is on trial for killing the Hulk, by sticking our heroine Bobbi Morse on a cruise ship full of cosplayers, corgis, and Bobbi’s ex-boyfriends, both on the news and on the cruise ship.
Bobbi is Hawkeye’s ex-wife, and the book deals with that by showing Bobbi not dealing. Unspoken amid Kate Niemczyk and Sean Parsons’ romping puppies and roleplaying games is that Bobbi is running away from this particular problem, something writer Chelsea Cain wisely shows us instead of telling us while still giving the book a heavy dose of comedy. It gives the issue a surprising amount of weight and emotion while not interrupting the book’s breezy feel, and it’s a good reminder that a massive crossover doesn’t have to be a drag.
Rumble #13, Image
John Arcudi and James Harren’s bizarre series delivers an issue that sums up its virtues. This book follows war god Rathraq, whose soul has been stuffed in a scarecrow and who wakes up in a modern-day Rust Belt city to discover all the demigods and monsters and heroes he knew are just now working class joes on the edge of a Rust Belt city just trying to get by. Needless to say, Rathraq doesn’t adjust well.
Arcudi’s gift for hilariously real people and genuine dialogue is matched by Harren’s detailed, deadpan artwork. Harren lavishes attention on everything from a pet hydra’s spots to a classic sight gag that closes the book. There’s not a book quite like Rumble, and I’m grateful for every gloriously weird issue.
Briggs Land #1, Dark Horse
Brian Wood and Mack Chater introduce us to the Briggs family, a set of militia types with their own land and an insistence they’re not part of the United States. And the patriarch of the Briggs family, locked in a cell, has just been cut off by his own wife, who’s taking over the operation.
Wood’s concept is a bit stronger than his characters. It’s not entirely clear why Grace Briggs, wife to a far-right nut who tried to kill the president with one son a gangster, one son a neo-Nazi, and one son a soldier, wants out from the United States and live on her own. Still, Chater’s rough-hewn art and Lee Loughridge’s deliberately grey palette set the tone for what might be the next great comic book crime thriller.
Red Team: Double Tap, Center Mass #2, Dynamite
Garth Ennis and Craig Cermak deliver a tight, smart, and surprising restrained police procedural just gritty enough to feel realistic and just over-the-top enough to be fun anyway. Part of it is Ennis’ careful pacing and structure; while he’s notable for his over-the-top books such as Crossed, here he dials everything back just enough to make the concept credible. Even the rich jerk at the center of the book is more scared than spoiled, although so far, the villains are little more than generic sociopaths from a rap album, even if there’s hints around the edges that our heroes are going to meet an ugly turn; it’s seeming less and less likely that the vigilante cops at the center of the plot are going to escape from their sins completely clean.
Cermak’s art is strictly realistic, which, when the book finally gets into the violence, gives it more of an edge. When somebody gets shot, it gives it a sense of weight more final than smearing panels with gore. Overall, it feels a bit like watching a good basic cable crime drama, and that’s no mean feat.
Black Hammer #2, Dark Horse
Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormiston continue their witty riff on the classic superhero story. Superheroes get sucked into limbo, sent to alternate dimensions, and fired off into space all the time… but what happens to them between when they fall into the void and when they come back? That’s what Black Hammer is all about, and this issue focuses on Gail, a 55-year-old trapped in a nine-year-old’s body. It starts out as a fairly witty parody of classic Captain Marvel comics, but underneath Gail’s smart-ass remarks and smoking is the very real pain of looking like you’re nine when your soul is ready for retirement. It’s an extremely human moment, and a great book.
Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #10, Valiant: Robert Venditti’s violent lingering on the metaphysics of being an eternal warrior is a great backdrop to Raul Allen and Patricia Martin’s beautiful, stark artwork, continuing this clever mix of high fantasy and modern superheroics.
Demonic #2, Image: Niko Walter’s art might be clean, crisp and starkly modern, but Christopher Sebela’s script about a police officer/demonic vigilante is pure ’90s cheese, and it makes for a highly entertaining mix.
Suicide Squad #1, DC Comics: Rob Williams and Jim Lee give the Squad, fresh off their box office arrival a bit of a makeover, and it’s a highly entertaining bit of business featuring supervillains who really hate their government jobs.
The Fallen, Marvel: The Hulk is dead, and this issue from Greg Pak and Mark Bagley is all about the personal fallout. How the people who loved him deal with it, how the people who hate him deal with it, and how you move on.
The Backstagers #1, BOOM! Studios: James Tynion IV and Rian Sygh offer up a pretty funny mix of comedic fantasy and backstage drama club antics. It’s a bit cartoony in the characterizations, but fun nonetheless.
This Week’s Collected Editions
A&A: The Adventures of Archer and Armstrong Vol. 1: In the Bag, Valiant (Softcover, $10): Armstrong is an immortal drunk, and has lived long enough to have some genuinely painful regrets. This book from Rafer Roberts and David Lafuente balances some pretty over-the-top wackiness with some pretty heavy emotions, shown off quite well in this collected edition.
Seduction of the Innocent, Dynamite (Softcover, $16): Dynamite offers up a clever noir that lingers on the idea that heroic actions can leave painful scars.
Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DC Comics (Hardcover, $25): Yes, the team-up of your grade school dreams has finally happened, and it works shockingly well.