Is Andromeda the best Hero Comic of the year? Yes. Is it the best comic of the year regardless of genre? Probably. How good is Andromeda? The first issue was beyond perfect and the second issue, which can be a pitfall in a series, actually gets better. Feel free to continue reading this review as I go to thesaurus.com and type in ‘fucking awesome’ to get a bunch of synonyms or instead you can just hop on over to your local comic book shop and pick up the first two issues of this series as if a government official just appeared on your TV with a somber look and a ticker underneath them and told you to do so.
Ah yes and this tidy little tidbit…this is an AQUAMAN comic! Aquaman. Never ever in my entire comic book life have I ever bought an Aquaman comic. Not once. Complete storylines from the 60s and 70s in perfect condition at a garage sale for 10 cents a book? Nah, I’m good. I give Aquaman the stink eye every time I see him in a Bat Book like Metal or whatever the hell that mess was that Synder did after his amazing run on Batman. No I have not watched the new Aqua-Momoa movie-oma stuff either. I don’t trust that guy. Oh but he’s so nice and affable and personable, yeah yeah, crap is going to come out on him, you watch. But this? Wow.
Christian Ward is by far one of my favorite artists of the past several years. His pages are lush and breathtaking and these first couple of issues do not disappoint. Some of the splash pages are absolutely gorgeous and the large prestige format brings it to another level. I mean, I’m just sitting there looking at some of them for minutes on end. I feel like Ward has had a bit of bad luck with the creators he’s collaborated with throughout his career. He was on that Fraction ODY-C series which was unbelievable but like every Fraction series just fizzled out right in the middle. You have to wonder if Matt Fraction cuts his poops short and just gets up. What else is he walking out on in the middle of? I see Fraction on a flight I’m sprinting out of the plane before it takes off because I have no doubt that he’ll be looking for a way to parachute out in the middle of the flight.
Ward also drew Invisible Kingdom which was a great series as well but for some reason just stopped its monthly releases and published its final issues in a graphic novel (which I have yet to get). I think his first series I saw him on was Infinite Vacation and that also took forever to wrap up. If I remember correctly the final issue was a year plus in the making. He wrote a Vampire series called ‘Blood Stained Teeth’ recently and that was plain blecch. Perhaps the Comic Gods have finally rewarded him with this monumental comic for the ages with bad ass writer of the moment Ram V.
Look, the story is nothing really special. It uses the basic ‘Alien Ship/Let’s go have a looksee/Oh no everybody’s weird now’ Sci-Fi trope that’s been used over and over. Yet it’s done so majestically with Aquaman (AQUAMAN WTF???) being presented as a true mythical mysterious hero of the deep fighting to save the humans from themselves. The introduction of the Black Manta is subtle yet strong enough to twist and turn the plot without being too heavy handed. It’s written poetically. It’s drawn as if Ward’s life depends on him proving to the world how much of a genius he is.
Black Label knocks it out of the park…again. It feels like to me that DC is just letting these amazing talents run free without too much nitpicking and hand holding. Perhaps they have a different approach for their non-black label titles but whatever and however they’re doing it is producing pure gold on the comic racks. Reading these black label titles versus regular DC books is like watching Curb Your Enthusiasm versus Seinfeld: You’re getting real punch you in the gut stories not formulaic stuff that’s been proven to work over and over. In other news, what the hell is Marvel doing over there??? They have all the money in the world, can hire whoever the hell they want and yet it’s pure tripe on the racks from them. It feels like when Top Tier Talent walks into a Marvel Office they’re restrained by a lackey at which point an editor will walk over to them, yank their pants down and put metal clamps on their nuts ‘This is how it’s gonna be funny paper guy! You do as you’re told and we’ll give your balls back when we’re done’.
Maybe they put one of these on each nut while asking what your pronouns are:
Anyway, Andromeda. Aquaman. Ward. Ram V. Black Label. The first 10 rating from my fledgling Comic Book Review life and beyond well deserved. Go get it!
Rating: 10.0
Verdict: Pull. Yank. Steal. Grab. Frame.
No comments:
Post a Comment