the Pull List #84 - December 7, 2016

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.







BOOK OF THE WEEK
Batman #12

Writer: Tom King
Pencils: Mikel Janin
Inks: Mikel Janin & Hugo Petrus
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Clayton Cowles
DC

Betrayed by one of his own, Batman must struggle and claw his way to the heart of Santa Prisca where Psycho Pirate, Bane, and the betrayer await.  Tom King’s script is phenomenal.  Much like the Selina monologue two issues ago, the one delivered by Batman this issue is pitch-perfect, more so because this one at least fits the action depicted on the page (though, with the benefit of foresight, maybe the other one does as well).  Quite frankly, the words are so raw and revealing that its tough to think of a better dissection of Batman, let alone the Batman/Catwoman dynamic.  Janin’s art continues to astound.  So much intricate detail is poured into these sweeping panel views that it truly is tough to say that any one part of the comic is more dominant than the other.  Batman continues to excel, thanks to a diverse story-structure and every single member of the team bringing their A-game.  Looking forward to the conclusion.  




The Woods #28

Writer: James Tynion IV
Illustrator: Michael Dialynas
Letters: Ed Dukeshire
Boom! Studios

Wonderful character moments.  Pulse-pounding drama.  Incredible revelations.  All standard fare for The Woods.  No spoilers.  Great stuff.




Moon Knight #9

Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artists: Greg Smallwood, Wilfredo Torres, Franceso Francavilla, & James Stokoe
Color Artists: Jordie Bellaire, Michael Garland, Franceso Francavilla & James Stokoe
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Marvel


Oh now they’re all here, in one place: a producer, a driver, and some guy from space.  Confronting Marc Spector in the saaaand.  (good luck piecing that reference together, it barely makes sense to me).  Anyway, Marc Spector’s dissonant personalities have finally come together, and now the only thing to be done is to decide what to do with them.  Lemire piles on the character work here, and there’s some legitimately heartfelt moments, a rare thing in a Moon Knight comic.  On a heart-wrenching note, this issue bids farewell to Torres, Francavilla, and Stokoe on art, with Smallwood and Bellaire resuming the reins on the title. It’s been a fun little experiment, on that both served the title and did great credit to such fine artists.  Moon Knight has been nothing short of amazing, and, the way things are going, the finale is shaping up to follow suit.



But wait, there’s more!

CharlieDanger82 is helping out this week to cover some the new titles for DC Rebirth. Think of it like a backup story in your favorite book, just with less talented writing.






Green Arrow #12
http://static2.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/6/67663/5573678-12.jpg
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Art: Otto Schmidt
Colors: Otto Schmidt
Letterer: Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT
DC Comics
Drawing parallels to recent news stories, Ollie is a polarizing figure among the citizens of Seattle, an abusive police department, the media and an almost ridiculously blatant parody of a future leader of a certain country. Whenever comics start the whole "ripped from the headlines" shtick, I cringe. Once a writer starts putting their sociopolitical spin on things, the comic usually becomes more about their soapbox than entertainment and the book usually suffers. Luckily there is a twist at the end of the book that will keep me hooked till the next issue. I hope the issue's heavyhandedness is just the writer blowing off some steam and Percy will be back to the status quo for the next issue.



Writer: Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason
Art: Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Christian Alamy
Colors: Wil Quintana
Letterer: Rob Leigh
DC Comics

When I saw the cover to this issue, I was like "What? But things are so good, what is this?" Well, not judging a book by it's cover are still words to live by since even though I was never a huge fan of the Frankenstein character in DC Comics, this still looks like it'll be an entertaining (if not weird) arc in what could be my favorite all time comic series. It's heavy on the action and that's great to see in a Superman book.


Writer: Tim Seeley
Art: Marcus To
Colors: Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
DC Comics

Bludhaven! Talking Man-Gorilla! Dick doing non superhero stuff! New Directions! I must say, for a series I was ready to drop last month, I'm glad that I changed my mind because this book is a lot of fun and with focus shifted back on Dick's life and not on Raptor or the Court of Owls, It's starting to feel like an actual Nightwing book, which is really what I've been waiting for.



Writer: Paul Tobin, Borys Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz, Korolina Stachyra
Dialogue: Travis Currit
Art: Piotr Kowalski
Colors: Brad Simpson
Letterer: Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT
Dark Horse Comics

Don't be fooled by the cover, folks! This is a very Ciri heavy issue showcasing her fighting skills, her diplomatic skills and her VERY poor decision making that could very well lead to some DIRE consequences next issue. I hate having to dig for this book and Hellblazer every week since they never seem to show up on Comixology's new releases. I almost missed it! Anyway, great issue and I still can't stand Yennifer. Hopefully Triss will be in the next series.





So what did you pick up this week?
Agree or disagree with anything said here?
Let us know in the comments.

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