In Analog, which debuts today from Image Comics, the setting is four years after the datapocalypse, where everybody’s dirty laundry was dumped online all at once. People have sorted themselves into two camps; the insanely private who jealously guard everything about themselves, and the people grinding on each other in self-driving cars while talking to their Patreon sponsors. And at the edges of this world is Jack McGinnis: A former spy and now courier hired to deliver highly sensitive information, on paper. And somebody wants him dead, possibly because he’s the guy who caused the datapocalypse in the first place.
Unless one of them is a psychic, or they can all turn a finished comic around absurdly fast, I don’t think Gerry Duggan, David O’Sullivan, or Jordie Bellaire, the team behind Analog, knew just how painfully current this book was going to be. The collapse of privacy and how we try to reclaim it has been a topic comics has dealt with before, notably the excellent The Private Eye from Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin, but that was interested in society. Duggan is more interested in asking just who would drop this particular metaphorical nuke in the first place.
McGinnis, it turns out, is a spiteful man, who ruined everyone’s lives because, at least as the book implies, he hated the guts of a Silicon Valley executive, and no points for guessing which “boy billionaire” is the target of the book’s contempt. Duggan cleverly contrasts McGinnis’ more informed arrogance with the sheer moral vacuum of Silicon Valley; they’re both bad people, but Analog is more interested in telling a thrilling story while letting us decide that for ourselves. It helps that the world after the datapocalypse isn’t better or worse, just different and just as awful in different ways. And there is, perhaps, not a more relevant story in pop culture right now than the question of what happens when we surrender privacy. Coincidence or not, Duggan, O’Sullivan and Bellaire have put our worst cultural nightmare on the page, and it’ll leave you wonder what you might do when the nuke drops.
Astro City #51, DC Comics
In the penultimate issue, of this run, at least, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson dig into grief in a world where your loved one doesn’t just die, but never existed in the first place thanks to superheroes mucking up the time stream. How do you explain that wound? Especially to people who had a loved one die right in front of them? It’s not an easy topic, and it’s one that Michael, our hero, solves by running away from at speed, but he can’t run forever. But you can’t fault him for his fears, and that makes the upcoming issue all the more poignant.
Isola #1, Image Comics
Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, and Msassyk offer up a fresh fantasy book packed full of questions with just enough answers to make you keep reading, as a soldier with bow and arrow sneaks a tiger she keeps calling “your majesty” through a land of mystical creatures and poachers. It’s not entirely clear that she’s wrong, since there are giant birds and the like, but whether this tiger is a queen who’s been turned into a large kitty, or something more is at work, remains an open question that drives the book, and makes it a zippy bit of high fantasy.
Swashbucklers: The Saga Continues #1, Dynamite
Marc Guggenheim and Andrea Mutti bring back the fantasy series from Bill Mantlo and Butch Guice. It’s difficult to pick up somebody else’s series, especially a giant like Mantlo, but Guggenheim and Mutti carry it smoothly. It’s definitely of its time, namely the mid-1980s, but Mantlo’s skill with cosmic settings, not to mention that the series features two compelling women at its center with the vengeful Domino and the charismatic pirate captain Raader as they Robin Hood it across the universe, shines through here, and turns the book into an earnest and fun read.
Demi-God #1, IDW Publishing
Jason, the creation of Ron Marz and Andy Smith, is a jackass. Immature, irresponsible, and poorly equipped to deal with reality, he’s about the worst guy to hand vast galactic power to. But, hey, you take the fate you’re given, and Jason has vast galactic power. Which includes full awareness he’s in a comic book. The concept may sound a bit stock, but it’s deeply funny not least because Marz has been at the superhero game for a long time, and Jason is sharply drawn as a comedic personality. Smith, meanwhile, enjoys the hell out of spoofing superheroic art while doing quite well with it. The result is a much-needed laugh at the quirks, and pitfalls, of the power fantasies superheroes represent.
Giant Days #37, BOOM! Studios: John Allison and Max Sarin offer the farcical horror of introducing your college significant other to your family. Which is doubly worse when your girlfriend is the pushy, smug Ingrid.
Xerxes: The Fall Of The House Of Darius And The Rise Of Alexander #1, Dark Horse: Around the time the Greek ninja shows up, you realize Frank Miller is perhaps not interested in historical accuracy. But it’s sort of fascinating as a fever dream and a delve into Miller’s psyche.
Sex Criminals #23, Image Comics: Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky explore frustration, emotional and sexual, as a plan comes together and a new player enters the scene.
Marvel Two-In-One #5, Marvel: Chip Zdarsky and Valerio Schiti have a great “What If” premise, namely what if Doctor Doom took over the mind of Galactus, but what really makes this book work is it underscores the emotional bonds between the Fantastic Four.
Monstro Mechanica #5, Aftershock Comics: Paul Allor and Chris Evenhuis show us what a girl’s night out means when you’re the secret apprentice of Leonardo Da Vinci and your best friend is a wooden robot.
This Week’s Best Collections
Charlie Brown: A Peanuts Collection, BOOM! Studios ($15, Hardcover): Charlie Brown’s miseries are revisited in a well-curated hardback that picks out some of the best strips featuring the depressed bald kid next door.
Eternity, Valiant Comics ($10, Softcover): Matt Kindt and Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic take Valiant’s superhero universe to a trippy, cosmic space in this fascinating story.
Black Panther: Shuri: The Deadliest Of The Species, Marvel Comics: Reggie Hudlin’s Shuri is the focus of this collection, laying some background for who she is, and, uh, some of the stuff the movie decided to leave out.