Animal Man and Swamp
Thing #12
Prologue
To Rotworld begins as Animal Man and Swamp Thing decend into the
Rot's home to strike at it's source
Starting
off with Animal man, this issue mostly establishes the current
situation and what they intend to do, and it unfortunately suffers
quite a bit from it. A lot of the issue is spent going over past
events in the current Animal Man run and it just feels very
pointless. However, there are a couple of cool moments in this issue,
most importantly, Buddy Baker finally connecting properly with the
Red to find Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing's creative panelling is used to
great effect during this moment and the colourist just kills on that
page, so I'm hoping that we start to see Buddy's connection to the
Red start to grow as the series continues. The art was a good as it
has been so far in past issues, but something odd I have to note is
that Buddy's partial animal transformations from last issue seem to
of been completely ignored. I'm not too sure whether or not this is a
plot point I missed, or laziness on Steve Pugh's part, but it has to
be said, giving Buddy wings when he flies makes flying pose much less
goofy looking.
It's
in Swamp Thing where we reach the main meat of the story. Almost
immediately, people on both sides of the portal are fighting for
their lives against the Rot. While Animal Man and Swamp Thing's fight
is a mostly normal (or at least as normal as a fight that includes a
man with control of plant and another channeling SPEED....OF THE PUMA
can be), It's Abby, Ellen and Maxine's fight that shines. It's a much
more frantic affair with the panels being made very thin to give a
sense of real close quarters combat. Another really note worthy
moment is when Animal Man and Swamp Thing begin to descend down the
bone ladder. The panels disappear and all we can see is the heroes
and the ladder, with the background turning into a muddy void. It was
genuinely unnerving to read and it shows exactly how alone they are
in this adventure. We also reach the big twist at the end, where
Arcane (A villain I still don't really like) reveals that them coming
to Rotworld as all part of a plan to allow the Rot to take over the
surface world and for Arcane to become the most powerful entity of
the Rot. After revealing that a year has passed since they entered
Rotworld, he ejects them back on to earth, where both out heroes see
a world ravaged by the Rot. Arcane's plan was quite well thought out
and no aspect of it felt like Scott Synder has to pull it off last
minute. In addition to this, it gives us a great hook for the next
issues. If both these series can keep the high level of quality of
past issues in this new setting, then Animal Man and Swamp Thing are
going to be THE series to watch as the 52 enters it's second year.
Before
Watchmen:Nite Owl #2
This
issue follows Rorschach and Nite Owl as they begin to investigate a
murder and we get more insight into Nite Owl's childhood
It
seems strange for this series to have so much focus on Rorschach
considering that he'll have his own book in the second part of the
Before Watchmen series, but JMS does such a good job of writing him
so it doesn't feel like it should be part of this book. An example of
this would be Rorschach wearing the mask because of how disappointed
he is in the human and that by wearing it, he doesn't feel part of it
any more. It does a great job of showing Rorschach's character and
just how little personality he has outside of the mask JMS also does
a great job of showing parallels between Nite Owl and Rorschach, in
that both come from a broken household, but responding to the
situation differently, with Nite Owl focusing on the old Nite Owl and
Rorschach retreating into himself. I do feel though that we can only
focus on Nite Owl's childhood for so long until it gets tiring and
I'm already feeling like JMS is trying to push forward a point we
fully understand. Despite that, I'm still really surprised how much I
like this series. It always seems to delve much further into the
characters than it needs to and it really helps properly flesh them
out.
Dail
H for Hero #4
The
Squid and Nelson team to rescue Manteau and stop the Abyss
I
always look forward to read this book each month, It's one of the
most creative series, in both how it's written and how it's drawn,
I've read in a long time, and this issue is no exception. The Abyss
(him? Her? Itself?) finally makes an appearance and It's a full on
Morrison-eqsiue figure, spouting broken sentences and space nonsense.
It's a surprising powerful presence as it nonchalantly strides past
the heroes. This is also the first issue to start showing some real
character growth, mainly from the Squid and Nelson. With the Squid,
we see him undergo a role reversal as he teams up with Nelson to stop
Doctor Wald. As he tells Nelson about his history with the Abyss, we
see him start to become a much more sympathetic character. With
Nelson, he realizes that even with the dial's aid, he has to save
Manteau and decides to don an outfit of his own making, Rescue Jack
(Imagine a fat Batman with a sledgehammer). This doesn't mean that we
don't see any new heroes however, as Doctor Wald is running loose
with Manteau's dail, becoming what might be my favourite hero to
date, TAP-OUT. If you're looking for a series with real creativity,
give this a go. If you aren't, then give this series a go anyway,
It's that good.
Hawkeye
#1
A
new series focusing on the day in the life of Clint Barton when he
isn't taking down global threats and Hydra, some villain with an inferiority complex, etc
Matt
Fraction is an immensely frustrating writer. He'll always try hard on
his own projects like Casanova, but when the higher ups at marvel
give him something bigger like Iron Man or Fear Itself, he just seems
to write on auto pilot. Don't get me wrong, these series will sell
well and they aren't horribly written, but It always seems like he's
just wasting his potential. It was hard to avoid this fact coming
into this series, but I'm glad to be proven completely wrong in this
case. Like so wrong. Really wrong.
Bringing
together Matt Fraction and David Aja (Whom he worked together with on
''that'' run on The Immortal Iron Fist), this series aims to show the
life of Clint Barton, otherwise known as Hawkeye, on his days off.
Immediately, we see Clint trying to pull off the exact same building
swing move he does in The Avengers film.....Except it doesn't end so
well. In the film, he manages to land the hook, swing through a
window and carry on fighting. In this comic he clips a wall, falls a
couple stories down and lands on a car, with leaves him bed ridden
and in recovery for 6 weeks and this sets the tone for this book. He
isn't a larger than life superhero with amazing world bending powers,
he really just a bloke who's a good shot with a bow. Throughout this
issue, we see Clint being very down to earth, whether he hanging out
with his neighbours on the roof of his apartment block or feeding the
dog of a mobster, and this is what makes him so interesting in this
issue. You could see someone like Captain America doing all these
things, regardless of how nice he is. I'm not a Hawkeye expert but I
can safely say that none of this feels like a big betrayal or huge
change in his character, it's just that no one's ever gone into so
much detail about him. Besides, we still a couple moments in this
book that scream classic jerk Hawkeye. So far I've only talked about
the writing of this issue, but the art needs the props it deserves.
David Aja is a perfect fit for this book, since he manages to use
some really well thought out panelling and art to showcase his
prowess for accuracy (I should note that he doesn't even mention his
bow at any point), but also gives Clint some of the best expressions
I've ever seen in a comic for a long time. The colourist, Matt
Hollingsworth, also adds so much to David Aja's art, showing a
noticeable difference to the day and night scenes as well as giving
this issue some really bright colours that don't intrude on the art.
I
can't recommend this comic enough. Matt Fraction, in one issue, has
made Clint Barton one of the most well written characters in comics
today. The art is fantastic and If it keeps this level of quality, it
might just knock Saga off it's spot as my favourite currently running
series.
Seriously,
good guy Clint Barton. What a guy.
Avenging
Spider-Man #10
Miss
Marvel's re-introduction as Captain Marvel continues as her and
Spider-Man try to Protect the mysterious Robyn Hood from a private
security team
So
far, Marvel's reboot of Miss Marvel is going pretty well. Her own
series has kicked and while that was pretty good, I think I prefer
this as her proper re-introduction. Throughout this issue, we see
writer Kelly Sue DeConnick make a lot of commentary about the
authority control and the occupy wall street movement as it is
revealed that Robyn was made to aid in it. In a lot of writer's
hands, this commentary could of felt very heavy handed and forced,
but KSD manages to pull this off and make it feel appropriate for the
story. She also nails the classic Spider-Man wit as he tries to keep
a giant sized Robyn under control. Both the art and colours are top
notch in this issue, that really complement Captain Marvel's bold
attitude.
Avenging
Spider-Man (bar #4) has been one of the most consistently good series
of the past year and this issue is no exception.
Besides,
Square Cube law. Who says comics are a waste of time?
I
don't want to give a full review on either of these but go read
Harvest and Black Kiss II. Be warned that Black Kiss II is a serious
NSFW title, but you'll still be surprised at what you'll find in that
comic
THIS
WAS A FANTASTIC WEEK FOR COMICS, WHY CAN'T ALL WEEKS BE LIKE
THISSSSSSSSSS?
Soundtrack
of this blog post
Dananananaykroyd-
There Is A Way
Holograms-
Holograms
The James Cleaver Quintet- That Was Then, This Is Now
