Review: "Poe Dameron" #8

Agent Terex wasn't necessarily a fan favorite among Star Wars comic readers. Poe Dameron's tight-lipped antagonist checked too many boxes of not just Star Wars, but Sci-Fi baddies in general. While writer Charles Soule managed to establish Poe Dameron as a somewhat distinct and layered character, Terex remained ironically bland at best. 

The more surprising (and definitely welcome) it is now that we get such a well-executed and entertaining origin story of the First Order agent, which even manages to tie in with some of the motives explored in The Force Awakens. The character goes through such a substantial and engaging transformation that one has to wonder why it took the comic eight issues to finally tell it. 

Poe Dameron was already the best Star Wars comic around, where intelligent storytelling, fresh characters and Phil Noto's wonderfully varied art make the galaxy feel truly alive. Now we got ourselves a credible villain as well.

8/10

Last Week's Comics, Ranked (2/11/16).

A highly subjective ranking of some of last week's comics, so get some of them while they are still on shelves.

1. Batman #10
2. Green Arrow #10
3. Cyborg #4
4. Catwoman: Election Night #1
5. Nightwing #8
6. Deadpool & The Mercs For Money #5
7. Justice League #8
8. Superman #10

Cover Watch #1: "Batman" #10

Mikel Janín cover for Batman #10 is quite remarkable in how it evokes notions of 18th and 19th century Gothic novels. The way the Fortress of Santa Prisca withstands the waves of a stormy sea, brilliantly captured in grey tones, will immediately remind readers of book covers such as Bram Stoker's Dracula or Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto. The grim looking Batman towers over everything here, further emphasizing the Gothic spirit of Janín's cover.

The only element here feeling a bit out-of-place is the cover's orange background, which unfortunately contrasts with the darker colour tones of the cover and disrupts its coherence.

All in all an excellent cover, which by the way comes with a comic that is an absolute blast as well.

Review: "Catwoman: Election Night" #1

Catwoman: Election Night has a lot of what you'd want from a Catwoman comic, or any comic at all in that matter: a compelling main character that combines brawn, brain and heart, an engaging story, a fitting villain, some relevant (albeit quite blatant) social commentary, and some absolutely astounding art by Shane Davis. 

The more disappointing it is then, that this all over in the blink of an eye. Although its light tone lends itself rather well to the one-shot format, the sheer potential of interesting ideas and story lines Meredith Finch creates will leave readers wanting more. What could have been an excellent 3 or 5-part series feels slightly rushed and incoherent at times, even though never as much as to confuse readers.

After all, this is still a highly recommendable and entertaining read, with a Catwoman that I definitely want to see more of.


7/10

PS: Definitely worth mentioning is Mark Russell's and Ben Caldwells mini story "Trigger Warnings", that has one of the funniest and most clever punch lines I have seen in comics recently. 

Retro Review: "Detective Comics" #514 (1982)

80's comics are a lot of fun, even though one can't deny that it's often nothing more than nostalgic irony that makes us come back to these issues. From the bubble gum ads to the amateurish classifieds, everything seems wonderfully antiqued, a time capsule that manages to capture the sentiments and images of this era. But would one have actually liked the comics?

The most apparent issue of almost every comic of that time is how little the writers actually trust and value the very medium they are creating. Afraid to let the art do some of the storytelling, every panel that doesn't feature dialogue instead features the narrator's voice in captions, only describing what you've just seen anyway. And oh, these captions. The constant urge to sound overly poetical does not only disrupt the flow and dynamic of the comic, but also lays bare another crucial issue. For many writers (and editors) of that time, high quality content could not be conveyed by art and dialogue, but had to come from text in a more classic and literal sense. "Hey, it's just a comic, but you know, we're using really fancy words and syntax here."

All this is even more unfortunate since the actual story of Detective Comics #514 is actually not bad at all. The premise makes for an entertaining Batman adventure (although he tends to be a righteous dick sometimes), and especially the titular Haven makes for an excellent deus ex machina/(anti-)hero, whose characterisation goes as deep as a single title story can provide. 

Comics have come a long way since then, and mostly for the better.

Review: "Superman" #9

The "Escape from Dinosaur Island" story line began with a quite charming, albeit not flawless first chapter. The more surprising (or call it confusing) it is that Tomasi and Gleason have already concluded this story arc for now. 

Consequently, character developments and story elements feel overly rushed here, as Superman #9 tries to do too many things at once. It wants to be a Halloween-inspired Dinosaur/Monster rampage with detective story elements and a WWII aesthetic that also treats Clark's and Jon's father son relationship. Nothing here is a real failure, and Mahnke's aerial battles are deserving of a special nod, but a lack of focus and a supporting character that is both doomed by tiring clichés and a development that is way too rushed make this a rather underwhelming affair.

5/10 

Review: "Deadpool" #20

Admittedly, it's sort of difficult to write a review of Deadpool #20 after that excellent epilogue by writer Gerry Duggan himself. As he already goes into detail about the positive impact even unstable anti-heroes such as the Merc with a Mouth can have on people in need, I feel everything relevant has been said about this already. But the comic does something else as well...

As a one-shot where Deadpool takes a suicidal girl on a eventful night out to ultimately make her changer her mind, it's the comic's stripped-down nature that makes it stand out in comparison to the rather over-blown Deadpool instalments of late. Being left without any gadgets and teams to fall back on to, Duggan very impressively captures the helplessness, fragility but ultimately also humanity of both Deadpool and the unnamed girl. For the comic medium as a whole it shows that less is sometimes more, where putting our heroes in more grounded situations can ultimately lead to such great achievements as this one.

10/10