September '24 Reading Round Up

 

 

 

I absolutely loved, and I mean truly loved, the original Joaquin Phoenix ‘Joker’ movie. I thought it was one of the best movies to have graced our screens in the past several years. It transcended the traditional comic book flick. Phoenix deserved every accolade and award that came his way; his performance was that good. Couple that movie with Reeves’ ‘The Batman’ which I thought was also quite good despite a plot that went off the rails, and I thought we were in for a new golden age of Batman movies. Pattison’s Batman was surprisingly great and Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman was a wham bam knockout. Of course they teased some other dude as the Joker at the end of  ‘The Batman’ but that’s easily corrected had they decided to unite the two movies under one umbrella later.

 

Yet there was nothing really that developed about the two alt-universes becoming one and then the chatter started about this Joker Sequel being turned into a musical with Lady Ra Ma Ma Ma as Harley. Now, I’m actually a big musical guy, love ‘em. Yup. I’m one of those guys that raved about the movie La La Land and cried during Les Miz with Wolverine as Jean Valjean and Anne Hathaway as a blubbering teary eyed Fantine. Needless to say, I was amped up for this new Joker movie.

 

And…well, haven’t seen it yet hahahaha. I mean, wow, the reviews are fucking brutal dude. Holy Thumbs Down Batman! It’s being torn apart across the board by everyone. I mean, if it was a mixed bag of good and bad I’d dismiss the bad press and go, yet this is a resounding bleccch from the world. That doesn’t mean I still won’t love it, but it does mean I can wait until it gets to streaming to cry and sputter like a baby in the comfort of my own home with my own homemade organic popcorn with pauses for doggie pee breaks.

 

It’s a shame how far hero movies have fallen. I’m about to dive into the Deadpool Wolvy flick, yet I’m not really a fan of either of those characters. I vividly remember when Tim Burton’s first Batman came out and what a historical event that was. Now, hero movies are as common as bat shit crazy social media reels except they come with 200 million dollar price tags. What’s the solution? Well, easy, stop making them! Seriously. Give the world a break, like, take 3-4 years off and come back with something special. Put the Comic Book movie and TV Show for that matter on a time out and develop the characters in their monthlies more. Will that happen? Duh, of course not, the studios are face planting their noses into comic book IP like it’s a mound of coke on their desks. Hopefully for our sake the recent spate of complete and utter bombs will at least temper the release schedule.

 

 

 

Another idea is to send in a violent Venezuelan gang into Marvisney and DC with the goal of having both of them forced to release all rights of everything comic book related to Titan Comics since they’re clearly the best comic book publisher right now. Oh I kid I kid. Here’s what I got into last month:   

 

 

 

What a majestic finale this was. Seriously, this is why you stick with stories penned by creators like Juni Ba, you have to trust that they’re ultimately going to deliver and deliver he did. I was underwhelmed by the first couple of issues of this mini-series but things took a turn at the halfway point where you could tell that Juni had designs on making this great. For the first time, I feel like I actual know who’s who in the Bat Universe as far as all the Robins, Wings, Thighs and Hoods are concerned. Not only that, I understand their dynamics. Ba’s spectacular visual style was a given going into this yet he truly elevated this tale into a familial drama that transcended the hero genre. He twisted the ending into something that landed not only in the world at large but in your life as well. A star is born. I don’t give many of these out but it is well deserved  10.0

 

I’ve run out of superlatives to describe this series. I mean, I could just copy and paste a shitload of adjectives but even then it wouldn’t measure up to how great this series has been. Actually, it’s not just this series. I’m going to lump in the entire Conan experience that Titan is currently bringing to the comic book world at large. Without a doubt, Titan’s Hyborian Age is the Golden Age for Conan fans and fans that don’t even know they’re Conan fans yet. The current issue is another take of the Frost Giant story that I’ve read a bunch of times before but it’s somehow new all over again in the hands of this creative team. I wasn’t over the moon for Braithwaite’s art in his first run of issues of this title but this time around his work is the perfect fit for the snowy climes of the Vanir and the Aesir. Grab these books and treat yourself. 9.6

 

Ooh, even more Conan!

 

Hey Marvisney and Dee Cee Ya Later, this is how you do a frikkin’ crossover event through a bunch of titles. Now granted, Titan doesn’t have 500 books on the stands yet, but Jim Zub has masterfully woven (notice the term woven) this through line of a Dark Evil Black Stone that affects multiple characters through multiple eras and books. Getting everything needed for this storyline won’t even come close to breaking the bank. If you’ve been reading their Conan title since it first released you’re already halfway there! Also, something that’s really cool is that they’re including a Novel as part of the crossover event, how cool is that? Growing up I remember reading and collecting all of those Conan paperback books that I used to see in bookstores or in cardboard boxes at garage sales. Again, I cannot say enough about how fantastic a job Titan is doing with this historical character. My goodness, just, please find a way to get every character out of Marvel and DC’s clutches somehow! Can you imagine what Titan could do for every comic book hero if given the chance??? 8.8

 

 

Saga has turned into a beautiful woman without a spark. You know what I’m talking about? You’re in a long term relationship with this gorgeous girl. She checks all the boxes. There’s no conflicts, no fights, by all accounts you’re fine. Yet something’s missing. That fire is gone. Sure, looks will fade and beauty isn’t everything but she was more than just beauty, she was smart, insightful, adventurous, spontaneous; now all of those qualities seems to have faded away. There’s no way you could ever think of dumping her but man, it’s rough. You try different things but nothing seems to change the fact that your relationship is stagnant and stale despite the fact that there’s a talking spider in the house with a punk haircut. Welcome to Saga in 2024. 7.5

 

 

 

Well, I didn’t have ‘Samurai Chick saves Cowboy from being anally raped by members of an army that are fighting zombies on an island of purgatory between life and death’ on my 2024 Bingo card, did you? This was a pivotal issue for me since I thought the first two were a little heavy on the violence and less on the relationships. Yet Duggan & Co have paced this perfectly and have set up the next installments to really let this romance unfold between two very unlikely characters. Sometimes a premise is so bonkers it takes your logical mind out of the equation and makes you deal with the creation as it is presented to you; this is one of those times. I’m looking forward to seeing how love can bloom on Zombie Island. 8.1

 

 

 

I ponied up and got the pricey David Mack variant cover for Lemire's new series 'Minor Arcana'. Ain't it purty? It kind of threw me for a loop. It was sitting there front and center on my comic book rack for weeks and when I finally picked it up to read, the jagged water color Lemire linework made me do a double take. I was wrongfully expecting more Mack. It’s like going on a date with a Babe who’s make-up is perfect and dressed to the 9s and you find out she loves the band Rancid, curses like a sailor (do sailors curse as much as they used to) and eats nothing but crappy fast food. Anyway, a girl returns home to her small town from the city to take care of her ailing Mom and is forced to take over her cheap Psychic business and all wacky weird Lemire-ness ensues. Just take my money. 8.6

 

Another 6 issues that crush your comic book geek soul and now another Monstress hiatus. I’m pretty sure they’ve outsourced this to scientific labs or advanced AI to figure out how long they can go with a chunk of issues before they cause the 13 readers that are left reading this comic to say 'that’s enough' and drop the title from their pull. Clearly Image is funding this as a social experiment. Truth be told a lot of what is coming out of Image these days is kinda p to the oop so maybe Kirkman has been compromised or kidnapped and replaced with an evil clone the same way that Marj Liu has. I seriously can’t anymore with this book. The plot has been muddied so much it’s turned to sludge. This comic is a prime example of how not to introduce so many characters to a story that your audience forgets who the fuck is who. Like seriously, there’s so many wolves, foxes, snakes, cats, tigers and wrinkly insane old women in this fucking story I lost track back in 2021 and it’s turned into a mish mosh of knowing looks and menacing glares. If I don’t see ‘Final Arc’ in their solicits next year I’m, I’m gonna have to have an comic book intervention so I don’t add this to my pull like a drug addled meth addict in a trailer park. 3.0

 

 

 Another fun fun issue by Hickman and co. I will say though, I think Hickman has his Borough Villains a bit wrong. Kraven should most definitely be the Head of Brooklyn not Staten Island. He’s Russian, big Russian pop in Brooklyn. He wears Cheetah Print leggings which is like a fashion staple for Brooklyn Babes. I could see Kraven rifling through some spots on Nostrand or Flatbush looking to complement his get-up and then getting all hyped up over the huge animal print selection. Mysterio is forrrr surrrre the Staten Island head. Why? Obviously since there’s a circular smoky space helmet on him you’d never know which of the Wu Tang clan is taking over the Mysterio persona at any given moment. I had to reread the scene with Mysterio in this issue but I think it’s either Inspektah Deck or Ghostface Killer. Just a hunch. 8.5

 

That's all I got! Thanks for popping by and happy comic booking.