A weekly column in which Jake gives
short blurbs about the comics he’s
picked up that week. Reviewed in the order read, which varies but generally by
increasing anticipation. Disclaimer: he
knows very little about art, at least not enough to considerably honor such
tremendous undertakings, so…yeh,
there’s that.
Phonogram: The immaterial Girl #1
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Jamie McKelvie
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Image
I read this first for two reasons:
convenient happenstance that it downloaded to my phone first and the fact that
I’m coming off the
afterglow of having read Phonogram: The Singles Club for the first time. As such, I should state that, were we in
normal, less-suggestive conditions, I would have likely read this somewhere
further down the list as it so deserves (it may end up as Book of the Week and wind
up last in post (little inside baseball)) but as of right now it’s first. Also, in case it’s not apparent, there’s a bit of personal bias to this series beyond favorite creative
teams, so make a note of that. Alright,
any more asides and this’ll
start to sound like an In Case You Missed It (hmm), so without further ado,
onto the comic in the next paragraph (a first for the PL?)
Phonogram is a series about young
people who can harness the magic of music through actual magic (or something,
it’s a bit obscured but
overall unimportant foundational building block for the series). A la The Wicked and the Divine but na la The
Wicked and the Divine. The eponymous
Immaterial Girl is Emily Aster, the leader of a coven of Phonomancers (yep),
who several years ago sold half of her personality to some kind of music video
entity in exchange for betterness (comp keeps trying to correct this to
bitterness, which is funny) (also, rereading that sentence, it sound entirely
weird and dumb. The former is definitely
true, the latter is entirely me). But
like all Faustian pacts there’s
a catch and in this series the catch catches up with Emily (stop it). We’re
full-on Gillen here in every sense of the word, as he and his partner-in-crime
McKelvie return to their earliest “mainstream” comics work. Phonogram, although a series about music, has
always had Britpop as a focus, being inundated with references and trivia
(though always aided by an annotations page).
Mercifully (because I’m
stupid and lazy), there’s
significantly less Britpop or even music references in general, the biggest one
being A-ha’s “Take On Me” and its accompanying music
video, which if you haven’t
seen: stop [reading], drop [a tab to youtube], shut ‘em down open up shop […and look up the video].
Instead, Gillen dials us in to the plot and the mystery of Emily Aster,
accompanied by ever-clever and tight dialogue.
Meanwhile, McKelvie continues to bring out some of the best faces in
comics and his art direction is top-knotch, particularly in the closing chase
sequence. Wilson’s colors suitably set the mood for every scene. Additionally, Cowles choice of balloon style
and script further enhance the narrative, most notably when dealing with Emily’s past as well as the other
side of the screen. Immaterial Girl is
great fiction. A fun, accessible read
that entertains and intrigues.
Star Trek/Green Lantern #2
Writer: Mike Johnson
Art: Angel Hernandez
Colors: Alejandro Sanchez
Letters: Neil Uyetake
IDW and DC
The Fan Fiction event of the summer
continues as more Lantern rings find new owners while Hal Jordan and crew of
the Enterprise try to make sense of their new predicament. Johnson adds some new ring-bearers to the mix,
some that are outside of the conflict from last issue, which allows for further
adventures and developments to come.
While the crossover is still very much in the set-up phase, Johnson
keeps the book interesting with the aforementioned as well as a Lantern
space-battle wonderfully drawn by Hernandez and colored by Sanchez. Johnson script allows the art team to have
the most fun with the newly deputized Yellow Lantern, a Klingon general named
Chang. Honestly, the Spectrum War
continues to add new thrills and is so far just a plain ol’ good time.
Mercury Heat #2
Story: Kieron Gillen
Artwork: Omar Francia
Color: Digikore Studios
Letters: Kurt Hathaway
Avatar Press
The gritty cyberpunk cop comic on the
first planet gets even grittier as Luiza Bora digs further into her first
murder investigation. Gillen throws us
some more info about the world of Mercury Heat, the selective deletion of
memories, such as ones that would implicated others in a crime or ones
involving an ex-lover. The use of memory
and the Grapevine system, an overmind that manages the populace through a merit
and test-based system deepens the already interesting world Gillen has
constructed. The art team is on it’s A game, with several crowded
scenes that lose none of the standard detail that the readers have come to
expect. While the second issue doesn’t do much in terms of furthering
Luiza’s case, it does
wonders for enhancing both her character and the strange world she
inhabits.
Ghost Racers #3
Story: Felipe Smitth
Art: Juan Gideon
Colors: Tamra Bonvillain
Lettering: VC’s Cory Petit
Marvel
As he makes his dashing escape from the
Killiseum, Robbie Reyes must face the pursuing Ghost Racer horde as well as
just what kind of spirit Eli is. Much as
the same as the previous entries, Ghost Racers #3 holds several plot
similarities to Smith’s
earlier Reyes tales. While there are a
few quibbles in terms of storytelling (the life-before sequence), Smith makes
every moment have purpose. This might be
Gideon and Bonvillain’s
best issue yet as the chase through the streets of Doomstadt allows them to
really cut loose. With the final page
holding the potential for a heart-shattering moment, Ghost Racers appears to be
hurtling toward a climatic finish (boo).
A-Force #3
Writers: Marguerite Bennett & G.
Willow Wilson
Penciler: Jorge Molina
Inkers: Jorge Molina & Craig
Yueng
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Marvel
As the cover would suggest, A-Force
comes into conflict with the Thor Corps as She-Hulk investigates the mystery
behind the strange events plaguing Arcadia.
Bennett and Wilson script a tense and dramatic issue while still leaving
time for Jen to crack appropriately-timed one-liners. The art is as action-oriented and
well-defined as every, though there appears to be something of a misstep
somewhere between script and page. In
one panel, She-Hulk grapples with Thor Gamora (Gathora?) and in the next she’s thrown a Sentinel head at the
remaining Thors. It’s a bit jarring and does take
one a bit out of the story. Beyond this,
A-Force is well-crafted as evidenced by the closing montage. The next issue’s cover hints that we might find out whose behind Arcadia’s troubles and hopefully its
not as predictable and obvious as I’m
thinking. If it is, hopefully its at
least as entertaining as the series has been.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #8
Writer: Ryan North
Art: Erica Henderson
Color Art: Rico Renzi
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Marvel
In her final issue, Squirrel Girl
fights for the fate of the world against Ratatoskr, the strife-sowing Norse
Squirrel God. And while that’s all fine and epic, the real
highlights of the issue are her friend Nancy’s adventures in Asgard as she and the two Thors try to
figure out how Ratatoskr escaped her prison.
The scenes are a laugh a minute, particularly when the ever-smarmy Loki
joins the investigation. As he wraps up
this volume’s last issue,
North pulls what my be his best jokes.
Talking about Henderson’s
involvement in these jokes in any detail would be spoilerish, but suffice
it to say that they wouldn’t really land without her
expert facial work. However, much like
the more recent issues, some of the other art comes off as rushed or
hurried. Despite this, Squirrel Girl’s last issue is a great ending
for the series that will return once the world is reset after Secret Wars.
Speaking of which...
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Secret Wars #5
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Esad Ribic
Color Artist: Ive Svorcina
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Marvel
With last issue’s dramatic death, we take pause from the main story’s progression and learn how Dr.
Doom, Stephen Strange and Owen Reece, the Molecule Man, stopped the destruction
of the multiverse and created Battleworld as well as delve further into the
mind of God Doom. While normally such a
diversion would be frustrating in an event book, Hickman makes Doom and Reece’s conversation so compelling
and captivating that it hardly feels like any steam is lost at all. Further, Doom’s loosing of Valeria and the Foundation after the intruders,
as well as the intruders’ locations,
is just enough to salivate over until next issue. The art accompanying the aforementioned
conversation is masterful and harkens back to the cataclysmic images of the
event’s first issue. Ribic and Svorcina show no signs of slowing
despite the harrowing schedule of the event.
Despite the pause in the action, Secret Wars remains incredibly strong,
not just for an event book, but for a comic itself.
So what did you pick up this week?
Agree or disagree with anything said here? Let us know in the comments.
Labels: A-Force, Avatar Press, Battleworld, DC Comics, Ghost Racers, Green Lantern, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Marvel Comics, Mercury Heat, Phonogram: the Immaterial Girl, Secret Wars, Squirrel Girl, Star Trek
