Tag: Marvel Comics

Weekly Comics Pull; 10-3

The story is a timely one, and while Magneto’s own story is culled from the pages of history, this particular tale is ripped from the front pages. It has a predictable arc and the moral of the story is one of acceptance, tolerance, and equality. The fact that this is the predominant quality in the X-Men canon doesn’t detract from the exploration of Magneto Claremont offers. Rather than a devious villain scheming to further an agenda, Magneto is portrayed as a simple but haunted man, pushed to great extremes by a dangerous and hateful world. Of special note is that Magneto goes in for non-lethal measures to secure his goals, while his human adversaries fantasize about much worse fates for mutant kind. This warmer treatment of the usually steely Magneto is surprising and touching, and well worth the read.

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Weekly Comics Pull; 9-26

Gamma is equally tongue-in-cheek as it is compelling in its storytelling. It features narrative threads that start out confusing, and only get more twisted as the story starts skipping through time. Ulises Fariñas’ tale doesn’t suffer from this complex narrative, but rather it compels the reader to peel back the layers and give each panel that much more attention. Gamma is full of allusions and callbacks from the obvious Pokémon and Voltron references to the more obscure Watchmen, Mega-Man and Neon Genesis: Evangelion nods. The story is trippy, goofy, and nostalgic all at once.

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Weekly Comics Pull; 9-19

The most interesting thing going on with DC right now is arguably happening with its sub-labels; Vertigo (Dreaming et. al), Jinxworld (Pearl) and now the adult-oriented Black Label.  Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo team up again, giving us a Batman not too far from the universe they explored with Joker. This time around, it’s the rug being pulled from underneath Gotham’s Knight, with the Joker off the board. With both Deadman and Constantine featuring heavily in this garden of unreliable narration, it’s only fair that some of Bruce Wayne’s idyllic childhood gets rendered a little unrecognizable with some help from demonic friends. Black Label is as advertised; raw, dark and exceedingly gritty. For the skeptical, there’s just a bit Bat-tastic full-frontal service.

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Weekly Comics Pull; 9-12

For fans of alt-history intrigue in the vein of Thomas Pynchon, Warren Ellis’ Cemetery Beach has your number. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a secret military-industrial cabal figured out space exploration in the 1920s and secretly colonized a planet, this book aims to answer all of your burning questions. Equal parts post-steampunk and 1984, Cemetery Beach, illustrated by Jason Howard, paints a bleak, mysterious world, ruled by a mysterious fat bald man with literary pretensions. By way of a prisoner interrogation we get a tantalizing slice of exposition as far as the powers at play and the gap in technology, and after a prison break, we find our hero knows very little more about the target of his intelligence-gathering mission.

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Weekly Comics Pull; 9-12

Zombie stories often explore the theme of economic inequality, and the human cost of might makes right. Kirkman’s story has been dropping hints of the seething unrest beneath the veneer of civility in the Commonwealth. The arc feels both timely and timeless, and many Charlie Adlard’s illustrations look like the front pages of newspapers the world over. Kirkman has inserted Michonne directly into a discussion of exactly how high a human cost society comes with, especially one that clings to the active disenfranchisement of people. Michonne (without her sword) is forced to defend her new way of life by defending a gang of murderous police enforcers. The event is the match that lights the fire Kirkman has been building for the last few issues, just in time for Rick Grimes and Governor Milton to arrive back from their diplomatic mission of goodwill to a world in flames.

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Weekly Comics Pull; 8-29

After four separate investigations into Wolverine’s whereabouts that surprisingly fell short on excitement and any major revelations, fans were left with a series of Dead Ends. While Marvel may have been trying to elevate a bad pun with the four Hunt For Wolverine stories, what we’re left with is still a pretty bad pun. Thankfully, Charles Soule (Darth Vader) brings the loose threads together to make a really satisfying read, that, honestly, we could have arrived at sooner than sixteen issues. Regardless, Soule brings menace, whimsy and some old-school world-wide conspiracy arch-nemesis reveal with Soteira. Persephone, via holographic projection, threatens the future of the mutant race just so Iron Man, Daredevil, Kitty Pride and all other parties interested in Wolverine back off.

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