Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artist: Tana Ford
Color Artist: Ian Herring
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Marvel
In the wilds of the Negative Zone, amongst the hordes of the Ash King, Cindy Moon has finally found her parents. And it’s pretty anticlimactic. Thompson wraps up this story, the story of Silk finding her missing family—the story that has literally been the crux of this series the entire time, across two volumes—far too quickly for it to be anything but unsatisfactory. The lack of suitable drama permeates throughout the issue, so much so that the stereotypical “last-page-reveal” felt more trite than usual. Art-wise, this book has some of Ford’s best faces. It also has some of Ford’s worst faces. All-in-all a pretty bit letdown.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Batman #9
Writer: Tom King
Pencils & Inks: Mikel Janin
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Clayton Cowles
DC
After skipping the Night of the Monster Men crossover (thank goodness that was brief), Batman returns to the PL with I Am Suicide, where he must recruit his own Suicide Squad to break into Santa Prisca to free Psycho-Pirate from Bane’s clutches so he can heal Gotham Girl. Whew. Okay, Tom King fully dials in the Batman-ness in this issue. We get snappy Alfred, we get caring, paternal Bruce Wayne and we get badass Batman. Putting-the-team-together issues are always fun when the roster is interesting and this story is no exception. Janin returns to art duties (he did the Batman: Rebirth one-shot) and boy is it a great return. His layouts and sequencing are excellent and he nails every bit of emotion just as flawlessly as he does the splash pages. Aided by some deft coloring by Chung and this might be the best art in Batman comics to date. A major upswing, this book is.
Spider-Woman #12
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Tigh Walker
Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Marvel
Getting out of that Civil War 2 mess, Jessica and Roger take their kids (separate, don’t you dare ship them, I’m warning you, do, not, do, it)…to the beach. Here’s the thing about the beach though: it’s got sand, and sand is coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Also sometimes it comes in the form a of man. Sandman. Yep, we went all that way for that joke. Anyway, with Jessica off-duty, Roger has to step up to the plate. But how can a D-lister like Porcupine defeat a…B-Lister? Like B+ maybe? lister like Sandman. Hopeless is back in fine form, giving us great fun and wit. Walker and Rosenberg gift us with clear and expressive art that’s wonderfully detailed. Spider-Woman #12 is a fantastic pick-me-up after the last few downer issues.
Unbeatable Squirrel-Girl #13
Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Erica Henderson
Color Artist: Rico Renzi
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Marvel
