The Best Part Of This Balanced Breakfast:
Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1, written by Nick Spencer, art by Emma Ríos, colors by Javier Rodriguez, letters by Joe Caramagna
The Best Thing We'll Probably Never See Again:
Batgirl #24, written by Bryan Q. Miller, art by Pere Pérez, colors by Guy Major, letters by Dave Sharpe
Red Lantern Damien? Why you gotta tease me, Miller?
The Best Satanic Familiar:
Ghost Rider #2, written by Rob Williams, art by Matthew Clark, inks by Sean Parsons, colors by Rob Schwager, letters by Clayton Cowles
And now, onto the real categories:
The Best Cover This Week:
DOUBLE DOSE OF DUSTIN NGUYEN
Batman 80-Page Giant 2011, cover art by Dustin Nguyen
Batgirl #24, cover art by Dustin Nguyen
We got not one but two Bat-books with week with huge emsemble-cast covers by Dustin Nguyen. The cover actually went a long way towards me picking up the 80-Page Giant special, mostly out of expecting the featured characters to show up in the book, which they for the most part didn't. Particularly Man-Bat, who's both awfully prominent up there and the only villain on the cover considering he isn't in the book at all. But that aside it was a pretty okay book. The Batgirl cover is a bit cuter, featuring some borderline-SD versions of characters from throughout the book's run brought out to bid farewell to the series. The only problem I have with this one is Stephanie herself does not pop out so well against the rest, darker colors blending in while the more vibrant cast members below tend to draw the eye down towards them.
The Best Art This Week:
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1, written by Nick Spencer, art by Emma Ríos, colors by Javier Rodriguez, letters by Joe Caramagna
This was a tough category this week, as I could have easily given it to well over half my pull. I have to give honorable mentions at least to Red Wing, Batgirl, Hellboy and BPRD, Fear Itself and Amazing Spider-Man, but in the end I was most impressed with Ríos' work on Cloak and Dagger. Artist on Osborn, Hexed and Runaways among other titles, Ríos has already shown some impressive talent, and this issue is more of the same. Right off the bat, on pages two and three, she pulls off a two-page spread recapping the history of the titular duo, which is not only beautiful but could probably be followed just as easily without the narration boxes just through the storytelling in the art. The rest of the issue is just as strong, with some amazing character work, especially Tandy's expressions throughout, as well as solid action with the New Avengers taking on the Jackal's spider-gang in the middle of Manhattan. Even dropped in a week with some stiff competition, this is one of the best-looking books I've seen in a while.
Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1, written by Nick Spencer, art by Emma Ríos, colors by Javier Rodriguez, letters by Joe Caramagna
The Best First Issue This Week:
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1, cover art by Mike Choi
Fortunately, this is not only a beautiful-looking book but also a great read. For two characters that have been around and seemingly remembered well for almost thirty years, Cloak and Dagger have had a hard time gaining any foothold with an actual series, being mostly relegated to mini-series or guest appearances. I am awfully afraid this is just going to be another non-starter for them, buried under the stigma of another event tie-in mini-series. This is all the more tragic because, on top of the beautiful art I already mentioned, Nick Spencer wrote an amazing first issue here. He's crafted two characters with the kind of realism comics need, sympathetic without being tragic, and successfully transplanting them into the Marvel U, creating two characters with depth without losing the kind of fun superhero comics are uniquely capable of. I think the only way I could've liked this more was if Dagger was back in the costume Takeshi Miyazawa had given her in Runaways. It's a small alteration that makes a big difference.
Cloak and Dagger by Takeshi Miyazawa
The bottom line is, this is the kind of books there need to be more of. Specifically, more of this book would be awesome; I feel like every complaint I hear people have about superhero comics is addressed here, and it even manages to be an Event book with only tenebrous Event ties, telling a story first with the shared-continuity goings-on as a backdrop, not unlike Spencer's been doing with Secret Avengers during Fear Itself, which is also some of the best stories coming out of those titles. So even if you aren't following Spider-Island, or Marvel in general, give this book a shot; we need to give them a reason to make more like it.
Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1, written by Nick Spencer, art by Emma Ríos, colors by Javier Rodriguez, letters by Joe Caramagna
The Best Last Issue This Week:
IT'S A TIE! HELLBOY AND BATGIRL IN 3D
Hellboy: The Fury #3, cover art by Mike Mignola with Dave Stewart
Batgirl #24, cover art by Dustin Nguyen
Like the art, this was another tough one. As I discussed in the previous post, there's a lot of things ending right now, and they all pack a bit of oomph. The Fury #3 is not only the end of its particular mini-series, but the culmination of everything Hellboy has been building to for almost two decades now. It is the Ragna Rok we've been promised since Rasputin summoned Hellboy all those many volumes ago. Like any good Hellboy story, it wraps things up nicely while still moving the story forward into the next arc, and is full of Hellboy solving problems by bashing their face in, counterbalanced by silent, muted scenes of the devastation of the battle and characters picking up the pieces in the wake of an apocalyptic battle, all wonderfully drawn by Fegredo.
Hellboy: The Fury #3, written by Mike Mignola, art by Duncan Fegredo, colors by Dave Stewart, letters by Clem Robins
Batgirl, on the other hand, is a bit more of a personal send-off to the character. After wrapping up the riot storyline, Bryan Q. Miller uses the Black Mercy plant to take a trip through Stephanie's subconscious to show both her and the readers what could have been, through one of my favorite uses of a multiple splash-page montage since Nextwave #11, with Perez doing an amazing job with the variety of scenes shown. We're shown a theoretical Blackest Night crossover, Stephanie's graduation and Batgirl Beyond among others in a beautiful sequence, framed by a conversation with Barbara Gordon. It ends on a very sweet sentiment, turning around what could have been a sad moment to see the book end into a happy, hopeful one. Now we'll just have to wait and see what the DCnU has in store for the character.
Batgirl #24, written by Bryan Q. Miller, art by Pere Pérez, colors by Guy Major, letters by Dave Sharpe
The Best Event Tie-In This Week:
FEAR ITSELF
Fear Itself #5, written by Matt Fraction, art by Stuart Immonen, inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, colors by Laura Martin with Milla & Molinar, letters by Chris Eliopoulos
I'm a little surprised but certainly happy to see the core Fear Itself book take this slot for once. I have really wanted to like this book since it started, but going book by book I was never especially impressed up until now. It had felt erratic and unfocused, setting up and casting out all manner of story lines into the greater Marvel U and not keeping a whole lot of plot for itself. With this issue, however, all of the spread-out tentacles of the event are reeling back towards the center, and the series is starting to feel more coherent, with this issue dividing its time between Thor and Cap, with one (wonderful) diversion to a scene between Tony Stark and Odin. As ever, Immonen's art is great and finally the rest of the book is catching up. The action is great throughout, and it's full of the forboding Darkest Before The Dawn moments. With two issues left, I hope this series has gotten back on track and stays on it.
Fear Itself #5, written by Matt Fraction, art by Stuart Immonen, inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, colors by Laura Martin with Milla & Molinar, letters by Chris Eliopoulos
There is only one real problem I had, which was a real deus-ex-machina moment stuck in the middle, was, without spelling it out, very reminiscent of the resolution of another Marvel event which I just recently reread the final issue. I am now deeply afraid of Fear Itself literally taking the same easy way out.
The Best Comic This Week:
DETECTIVE COMICS
Detective Comics #881, written by Scott Snyder, art by Jock and Francesco Francavilla, colors by David Baron and Franceso Francavilla, letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Scott Snyder's excellent run on Detective has come to a close with this issue, and somewhere along the line it turned into part family drama, part horror movie. Batman is still present, but no matter what James Jr. says, this is a story about the Gordons. James Jr. has been outed as the serial killer everyone had always feared he was, and has attacked his mother and kidnapped his sister, while Batman and James Sr. are trying to track him down. The story here, as has Snyder's run throughout, looks at how Gotham can change a person, or break a person. The book can be genuinely creepy, helped along by Francavilla on art certainly, but it also never forgets its a superhero comic. James Jr. is played somewhere between a supervillain, in the Joker vein, and a real-world serial killer. Barbara plays the victim but is anything but helpless, and for what may be her last time in the wheelchair as Oracle, she still manages to kick some ass on her way out. The art duties are shared by Jock and Francesco Francavilla, who work together quite well here. The changes from Jock to Francavilla and back are abrupt and starkly different, but it is very much to the benefit of the book. When it goes to Francavilla, the entire mood of the book changes along with the colors and style and goes into real horror-movie territory to really enhance the effect and atmosphere of the scenes you're reading. Later, it goes back to Jock, literally with a punch; the shift is sudden and adds to the impact of the action, playing excellent along with the rhythm of the comic. All together, this is an excellent comic and a fitting end to Snyder's run.
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