Kingsway West #1
Writer: Greg Pak
Art: Mirko Colak
Colors: Wil Quintana
Letters: Simon Bowland
Dark Horse
Kingsway West is an alternate history comic where the discovery of a powerful material, red gold, dynamically shifted the American West. The place became a battleground for the between the Chinese Golden City, the Mexican Republic, and the United States of New York. And caught in the middle is sharpshooter Kingsway Law, a man looking for his missing wife. Pak’s setup is rife with potential but leaves the reader somewhat cold in execution. The opening story jumps around numerous timeframes that leaves the reader with little to latch onto, so much so that it feels like some of them should have been cut and simply added more to the remainder. Colak's art contains wonderful landscapes and visual framing, but is a bit lacking on the expression front. Kingsway West has the potential to scratch a reader’s particular itch, but sadly the actual effect is less that satiating.
New Avengers #15
Writer: Al Ewing
Penciller: Paco Medina
Inker: Juan Vlasco
Color Artist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Marvel
With the Maker-lead Revengers invading their base and SHIELD set to drop a nuke on them, how can the AIM-vengers possibly turn the tide? With a little help from old friends and some well-plotted subterfuge. Ewing takes his script to the next level, providing witty, hilarious moments and incredible bits of plot mechanics. Frankly, he should get kudos for giving us a Warlock guest appearance alone. Medina and Vlasco continue to be the perfect picks for this arc that’s rife with super-hero action. Coupled with Aburtov’s excellent colors, the showdown at Avenger Base Two is one of the better examples of the genre. New Avengers continues to deliver the weird, the witty, and the wonderful.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Detective Comics #939
Script: James Tynion IV
Pencils: Eddy Barrows
Inks: Eber Ferreira
Colors: Adriano Lucas
Letters: Marilyn Patrizio
DC
The Bat Family may have saved Batman from the Colony, but Kane’s war machine has another fleet of drones on the way to Gotham to destroy the supposed League of Shadows, along with half the city. In what might be the best issue of the run so far, Tynion packs in the emotion and drama while never skimping on story. Great character moments abound for the entire cast and hearts will race at the conclusion of the issue. Barrows returns to art in glorious fashion, giving the pages a painterly, epic quality that exponentially improves the issue. Detective Comics is straight up goodness in all aspects.
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #11
Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Jacob Chabot
Color Artist: Rico Renzi
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Marvel
This week, Squirrel Girl eats nuts and kicks butts…in her dreams! Ryan North lays out a fun, wacky plot that may or may not rely a tad too much on Doreen’s recent forays into computer science. Glazing over that (literally), guest artist Jacob Chabot’s turn on the page is a bit more of a standard cartoon affair than Henderson’s unique style, but it’s not without its charms. Chabot brings out the necessary kinetic nature of the plot and keeps pace with the expressions. All in all, a fun issue of USG, if a bit par for the course.
