It’s another New Comic Book Day, and we’ve got a mix of lighthearted fun and smart metaphors on tap. But what was No. 1?
10) Venom: Space Knight #6
As this confection of a book unfolds, it just keeps getting better and better. Robbie Williams, here, works in a little bit of a message, lingering on how Flash Thompson isn’t a natural leader, but rather how what he had to overcome made him one. But Williams once again balances humor and action to deliver a sort of Lethal Weapon in space, where Flash is Murtaugh and Riggs is a bloodthirsty alien panda.
Speaking of which, Ariel Olivetti, who’s handed in gorgeous painted work from the start, delivers some dynamic layouts and makes sense of the chaos unfolding all across this book’s plot. This unreconstructed, old-school space opera is one of the best books Marvel is putting out, and it’s a wonderful dessert of a book.
9) Assassin’s Creed: Templars #2
Fred Van Lente and Dennis Calero use the popular video game as a jumping-off point to mix pulp and noir with a simple question: Among the corrupt, self-righteous Templars, who watches the watchers? In this case, it’s the Black Cross, a mix of The Shadow and Sam Spade, complete with the deadpan smart-aleck remarks and witness intimidation.
Calero in particular has a grand time here, putting his moody, inky style to good use with bold shadows and crisp lines that capture everything you’d expect from the game, from leaping off roofs to sneaking up on informants, in a bold and entertaining style. Van Lente, meanwhile, mixes and matches tones and styles in pre-WWII Shanghai with glee, and the result is a richly entertaining slice of pulp that would make an excellent video game.
8) Velvet #14
It’s always tricky to mix fiction with real events, but Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting manage to mix the Watergate scandal with the unfolding plot of their book with panache. Epting’s lush art compliments Brubaker’s dirty martini spy thriller of a female James Bond piecing together an international conspiracy that framed a fellow spy by incorporating real landmarks and historical moments without exaggerating them; his Nixon is photo perfect without feeling like tracings of photos. Although I really could have done without the image of Gerald Ford that Brubaker made poor Epting draw. Come on, Ed. Nobody needed to see that.
7) Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #6
Amy Reeder and Natacha Bustos wrap up their first arc with a surprisingly hard gut-punch of a closing few pages. Lunella Lafayette has been a sharply drawn character that Reeder has carefully filled in, driven by the frustration any kid feels with parents who don’t understand them and schoolwork well below their intelligence. Besides this, she also has to worry about her Inhuman genes and what might happen to her if she’s exposed. Reeder loops back on all of these issues over the course of this book, and it really underscores just how great a character Lunella is.
Bustos, meanwhile, continues to balance the somewhat cartoony aesthetic she’s set with some very real moments. Some of the best panels in the book are simply Lunella and her mother struggling to communicate, and the frustration on their faces speaking volumes.
6) Aliens: Defiance #1
Brian Wood and Tristan Jones have an unenviable job; finding something new in the Alien franchise, especially when Dark Horse has spent decades revisiting it from every angle. Miraculously, they pull it off by following Zula Hendricks, PFC, a Space Marine recovering from a spinal injury sent, in typical Weyland-Yutani style, as meat.
Just how Wood reverses this plot is something you’ll need to discover for yourself, but it’s a compelling twist that feels fresh. Jones’ stark inking and crabbed detail give the book a claustrophobic feel even when you’re not trapped on a spaceship, something accentuated by Dan Jackson’s careful color shading. If Alien Day has left you looking for something fresh with your favorite Xenomorph, pick this up ASAP.
5) Omega Men #11
All throughout this book, Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda have been preoccupied with one question: What drives a human being to believe terrorism is the only way? This penultimate issue of DC’s brilliant miniseries is heavily preoccupied with that question as the Omega War unfolds and the Omega Men unite a solar system against a Citadel that would destroy it. Primus, the non-violent leader turned bitter terrorist, has a monologue in particular that makes it clear that even people who believe in what’s just can resort to what’s wrong to survive.
It’s heavy stuff, leavened somewhat by the marriage between Bagenda’s creature design and dynamic line work and Romulo Fajardo Jr.’s color work, which uses everything from watercolor-esque mottling to the haziness of pastels to get the right effect. Omega Men is thoughtful, thrilling, and often brilliant.
4) Sex Criminals #15
Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky once again deliver not just the funniest sex comedy in comics, but one of the funniest comics, period. After fourteen issues of Jon and Susie, the couple that can freeze time with their orgasms, fighting and discovering that they’re just the tip, so to speak, of the sexual superpowers iceberg, it’s impressive that the book has carried a comedic premise this far without collapsing. Underneath all of it, though, is still the very real and very tough stuff about relationships and sex that give the book its emotional core. When Jon — the nominal hero — tells Susie — the woman he’s been through emotional hell with — that he loves her, and she suddenly wants coffee, Zdarsky renders Jon’s face in a way that perfectly captures a simple but painful moment that way too many people have been through. It’s the kind of stuff you rarely see in comics, and it’s always a welcome sight to have it back.
3) Jacked #6
Eric Kripke and John Higgins wrap up their story of a middle-aged schmo who gets superpowers and, naturally, proceeds to screw up his entire life. Kripke, best known for creating Supernatural, smartly ends this series by teasing out the parallels between our hero’s use of Jacked to solve his problems and the nature of real-world addictions, without either hammering the point between readers’ eyes or coming off like he’s using a real problem to make a gory comic seem profound.
Part of that is John Higgins at work. Nobody draws scuzz and gore quite like Higgins, and he delivers some truly hilarious and messy work here. Overall, this has been a smart twist on both the addict’s journey and the trope of the loser who gets superpowers, and hopefully, it won’t be too long before the sequel.
2) Faith #4
Jody Houser and Francis Portela wrap up a superb miniseries on a superheroic, and yet bittersweet, note, as Valiant’s most optimistic heroine, Faith, manages to save the day and sorta get the guy. Houser’s wry winking at superhero tropes pairs well with her effective use of them, and she keeps the comedy dry to let some of the stranger plot twists, like Hollywood being run by aliens, breathe, and be funny without feeling wacky. Portela, meanwhile, delivers clean, dynamic, hilarious art that has great action. Overall, this is a superb finale to a wonderful series, and if you haven’t picked up the whole thing you should do so.
1) Four Eyes: Hearts of Fire #4
Joe Kelly and Max Fiumara close the second miniseries here with a stunning, thrilling issue about abuse and forgiveness. Kelly’s script has had a strong thread of the nature of abuse running throughout it: As the young Depression-era kid Enrico is abused by his stepfather, he in turns starts using violence on those he loves, like his blind dragon Four Eyes. This script closes with Enrico learning to reject that, to respect those around him, and that violence towards those he loves isn’t the answer — it’s a powerful moment.
It’s to Max Fiumara’s credit that he can take this message and communicate with, of all things, a tense, scary battle between two dragons. Working closely with Thomas Maurer, letterer and the book’s designer, the two deliver a sparsely colored, vivid world that grounds the dragons in real life and foregrounds Kelly’s message without making it sledgehammer obvious. Pick up the whole miniseries today: This book is an achievement, for all involved, and deserves a wider audience.