Every comic you've read in 2016


Missy

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Silk (2015) #1-7:

Her time in the bunker confuses me, though. If I recall, the comic says she was in there 10 years, while other sources say 13 years. If that's the case, she's somewhere between 27 and 31, yet she acts like someone in her early 20s. In some cases that's fine, because she was isolated for a decade(-plus?), but I'd rather she be written as more socially awkward than a young adult.

Comics: 53

That's been Marvel's MO for a while, everyone's 22-24 years in behavior and personality. Patsy Walker married the Son of Satan, went crazy, killed herself and had her soul sold off to hell by her mother, but in her current book she's written like Ellie Kemper from the Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt. 

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Carnage (2016) #1-5: Holy shit, this is way better than I thought it would be. Take the ambiance of Alien, toss in a serial killer, another convicted killer, and a werewolf. Add the Feds, a madman, a cult, and set it all underground. And just like that you have what will be one of the best comics of 2016. Thanks to Gerry Conway, this feels like a missing classic from Marvel's horror line of the 1970s, but with a lot of players from Spider-Man's gallery. His Carnage isn't deep (when is he ever?), but that's fine because Carnage is a hurricane of murder and rage; he's a force of nature that nothing can stop. Each time he shows up, you feel dread; there is no reasoning with the monster or the man. The real star here, though, is Mike Perkins. Under another artist, this book would look and feel like a generic horror or action comic. Perkins, the master that he is, turns every page of Conway's script into cinematic nightmare-fuel. The way he juxtaposes the cave-shattering fights with the slower talky moments is a masterstroke in panel usage and placement. I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Comics: 70

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The Invisibles Vol. 1 - It was going along pretty slow but well enough, then it got weird. Dane's an ass, it's hard to really care for him right now. The Invisibles themselves are interesting though. If I'm gonna keep on with the series it's gonna be for them. The S&M Sandmans (The Cyphermen, I think?) are really creepy. The art by Yeowell's good, but Jill Thompson's work was better.

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Daredevil by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee vol. 4 hardcover - collects Daredevil (2014) #1-10, 1.50 and 0.1.

First off, nice to see Samnee get his due in the title. This just keeps getting crushed. After his outing and disbarment, Matt and Kirsten McDuffie set up shop in San Francisco, where he runs up against the Owl, the Shroud, the Purple Man, and the new queen of the Wakandas. The one shot issues are pretty forgettable, but the main titles are a ton of fun. Waid continues to kill it with this book, as his quippy, adventurous Matt is covering a crippling case of very realistic depression. Samnee delivers his usual stellar work, fun and bright but with a real undercurrent of darkness. Javier Rodriguez, who does most of the inking over Samnee, pencils a couple of issues and those look great as well. This book was just so great. Looking forward to seeing what they do with Natasha.

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Lucha Underground #1: I guess this is a TV show? It isn;t very good in comic form.

Not very good at all.  And I am a huge fan of the show and this was a mess.

Batman 66 - Catching up to the end.  Fun as always.  Great last issue.

Amazing Spider-Man: The Wedding - Collects 290-292 and Annual 21.  I grew up on Spectacular, never being able to find Amazing issues in back issue bins.  And man, this feels like reading different characters.  Peter & Mary Jane's relationship is awkward.  Really awkward.  I didn't think it was all that good.  And considering that Kraven's Last Hunt is the very next issue, it just all seems odd.

 

Comics: 10 (4)
Graphic Novels: 1
Trade Paperbacks: 2 (8)

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Before Watchmen: Minutemen/Silk Spectre: The best of the bunch. Really surprised at how much I liked the Silk Spectre story. The Minutemen one should have been 10 or 12 issues. Too much story there.

Indian Summer: Manara graphic novel. Really awesome.

Sexecutioner #1-3: Hilariously bonkers action porno comic.

We, The Dead vol 4: I hope this is the end. This GN series was fucking weird.

Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #3: This better start getting good.

Worst X-Man Ever #2-5: Goofy and fun.

Comics: 208
Trades: 16

Graphic Novels: 9

Omnibuses: 4

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Amazing Spider-Man: The Death of Jean DeWolff - This is more like it.  These were some of the original comics that I owned.  I must have read these dozens of times.  And after all this time, still a damn fine story.  I'd put this up as one of the best Spider-Man stories.  Two things:  I dislike that this was collected as The Amazing Spider-Man.  It should be Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man.  Super nitpicky, but it bugs me.  And I never knew that this was written by Peter David. 

Comics: 10 (4)
Graphic Novels: 1
Trade Paperbacks: 3 (12)

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Clover: The Dark Horse omnibus edition. One of Clamp's earlier works, and one of their attempts at sci-fi. Very minimalist, lots of empty space, the designs are as gorgeous as ever, but the plot's kind of paper thin, and when you've got two flash back volumes trying desperately to flesh it all out, it kind of shows. Worth a read for seeing Clamp in their earlier phases, and what seems pretty experimental for them. Ran for two years in a magazine in Japan, though I wonder if the chapters weren't the smaller increments that appear in the book, and not the larger groupings. 

Sin Titulo: Cameron Stewart's webcomic, in collected form. Neo noir by way of Murakami, with just a dash of Plato. Doesn't get overly indulgent like some semi-autobiographical webcomics sometimes do, and doesn't really feel like there's any filler, either. Just a perfectly flowing narrative and some great art. 

Single Issues: 43
TPBs/Collections: 13
Digital First Issues: 10

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Spectacular Spider-Man #134-136 - Follow up to the Sin-Eater story.  Not as great as the original, but this was still very good.  I think the main sticking point is the inclusion of Electro.  The main idea is that the savage beating Spider-Man gave the Sin-Eater has left him crippled.  As such, Spider-Man is having trouble trusting his powers.  Having Spidey goes against non-powered people would have worked much better.  After all, Sin-Eater was just a guy with a shotgun.  Electro seems shoe-horned in just to have a big bad to fight.  Yet there really isn't much fighting.

 

Comics: 13 (4)
Graphic Novels: 1
Trade Paperbacks: 3 (12)

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All New X-Men vol.2 #5: Possibly my favorite Marvel title I'm reading now. It's neck-in-neck with Ms. Marvel. Is this bi-weekly? Issue have been coming out fast.

Patsy Walker a.k.a. Hellcat #3: Ehhh, I really should drop this book. It's not bad but it feels really manufactured in a post-Batgirl of Burnside kind of way.

All New All Different Avengers: Book's gotten better with this and the last issue.

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Before Watchmen Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair: Ozy story is great. Combines his backstory with an in-depth prequel to the original. Crimson Corsair was garbage. The best part about this trade is the oneshot on Dollar Bill. Steve Rude's art in that makes him the best artist of this whole weird experiment, which says a hell of a lot.

A Year of Marvels #1: I guess they're doing one of these a month. This is Spidey vs Vulture on Valentine's Day.

ANAD Avengers #5: Solid. Maybe the best issue yet.

AN Wolverine #5: So. Fucking. Good.

AN X-Men #4: Ditto.

Ana: Jungle Girl #1: This is something I grabbed in research for a novel I'm planning, but it turned out to be more like an Outer Limits episode of the porno parody (Outer Bigtits?)

Archie #6: Terrible Art. I want Staples back. Great story though.

Avengers Standoff-Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1: Whoa. Did not see that coming. Interested to see where that goes.

Bacardi: Warren Ellis and Mike Allred did a oneshot detailing the history behind the namesake for Bacardi Rum. And it's pure garbage.

Badger #1: Oof...the nineties came calling pretty hard here.

Batman Robin Eternal #19, 20: 19 is okay. One really good moment. 20, on the other hand, is solid and has like 4 BIG moments. Great comics fun.

Batman/TMNT #3: Ech...

Black Knight #4: Best issue yet. Finally hooked me.

Captain America Sam Wilson #6: Great. Glad the wolf cap is gone though.

Comics: 222
Trades: 17

Graphic Novels: 9

Omnibuses: 4

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FBP Vol 1 - Pretty fun. Hard to divorce Robbi Rodriguez's work from Spider-Gwen but it's still as kinetic as ever. Some of the storytelling in the last two issues was a bit off though.

Harley's Black Book #2 - It was fun seeing Harley get powers. Good art.

ASM #8 - Great issue. Art could've been a bit cleaner but still good.

Ms. Marvel #4 - Weird premise, but we'll see where it goes from here. Liked the new artist, glad that Ian Herring's still here to keep it consistent visually.

Spider-Woman #4 - Another good issue. Interested to see where it'll go from here.

Star Wars #16 - Pretty interesting. Like the art by Yu, but not his best work. Coloring was a little inconsistent.

Web Warriors #4 - Continues to be fun. Art took a bit of a stepdown.

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The Dark & Bloody #1: As they do every so often, Vertigo recently launched a handful of new series. Though I've skimmed through a few, none have caught my attention -- until now. The Dark & Bloody sees a monster / spirit hunting folks in a rural Kentucky county. At the center of it is Iris, a young family man who's plagued by death and war. Shawn Aldridge's dialogue flows naturally, and he's able to change eras and locales with relative ease. There's a prose quality to his work, and each character clearly has a built-in backstory. (I'm especially intrigued by the Sheriff.) The brewing tension between Iris and his pregnant wife is all too real; they love each other, but something's going on underneath the surface. After one issue, I read these as people rather than characters. The last Vertigo comic to do that was Scalped.

Scott Godlewski's artwork is brilliant. There are hints of Cliff Chiang and Sean Murphy in his lines, which come together to create a slick-yet-grimy aesthetic that works for the series. His characters, like the world around them, are lived-in; every single one of them has stories to tell, which you can see in their body language. (The look on Sarah's face when Iris kisses her forehead tells a thousand tales of their relationship.) What's more, when we see Iris at three stages in his life -- a young boy, teenage soldier, family man -- it's clearly always him. Despite the loss of his youthfulness throughout the book, his general features remain the same. That's not something many artists can pull off, not without adding in a defining feature such as a facial scar, glasses, or freckles.

Comics: 74

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Robin: Son of Batman #9: This issue is beyond mired in its own continuity, as well as that of the core Batman comics. It's confusing to a new reader, and a lot of the dialogue is Grant Morrison-like gibberish. That said, five of the first six pages, as well as the final five pages, get to the heart of Damian; he wants ever so badly to please his father -- to have a father -- but he never will, and he knows this. This sadness carries him, and, like his father, he's made a family of his own -- in the form of animals. Also, Pennyworth the cat is such a cat on that last page, it made me chuckle.  

Comics: 75

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Snowfall #1: In a near-future where it never naturally snows, corporations have been given personhood and are our Lords and Masters. A freedom fighter something-something climate change something-something copycat something-something spooky government something-something. While the core idea behind Snowfall is somewhat intriguing, we're thrown headfirst into the world with next to no information as it pertains to the characters and their motivations. We're supposed to side with Anthony and The White Wizard without knowing exactly what they're fighting for. Anthony comes across like a crazed, misguided fanatic rather than a freedom fighter with a clear agenda. While a first issue is meant to raise questions, this one leaves me with questions stemming from lackluster writing rather than a compelling story and characterization.

Comics: 76

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Superman: American Alien #1: This is a light, touching look at a family coming to grips with their child's non-normality. But the real kicker is the sheer amount of info on the final page, outlining the relationship between Jonathan and Martha over just a few years. On that one page alone we learn:

  • Jonathan is a lawyer who felt obligated to take over the family farm after the death of his father, and that he hates it to the point of suicide.
  • Martha fell into her own abyss after a drunk driver caused her to lose her unborn baby.
  • Jon's youthful nickname for Martha was Mars. :wub:
  • And there are several clues as to how they managed to come to be the legal guardians of Kal-El.

Superman: American Alien #2: This is much darker than the first issue, as it looks at teenage Clark dealing with a crush, ruthless violence, and his own sense of obligation regarding his powers. It also parallels the first issue when it comes to family; whereas the Kent's love and accept their son because of his differences and they give him wisdom after he has outbursts, here we learn about another family who disowned their son because of his own issues (RE: drugs) and how that comes back to haunt Smallville. Some people will hate this one because of Clark's use of heat vision (and it is a violent scene), but he didn't know he had that ability until it was too late.

It was here where I realized, yeah, everyone in Smallville seems to know Clark isn't just weird, but is an alien. In the first issue it was just a doctor, a family friend, and maybe Pete. Here it's Lana, the Sheriff, and others. I'm not sure Max Landis will explore this topic in future issues, but I love the idea of a small, Midwestern town knowing one of their own is a superpowered alien but keeping it to themselves because that's what small towns do. (Mark Millar's Huck does this, as well.)

Superman: American Alien #4: (I already covered #3, so no need to retread it here.) The Dick Grayson scene, especially his internal narrative as he tries to deduce who and what Clark is, was worth the read alone. If Landis does more work for DC, I hope he writes a Dick Grayson Robin story, as he understands why Dick does what he does, and that he tries so damn hard to please Batman. Wonderful stuff. The rest of the book was also damn good; Lex's speech will resonate with Clark, as will Lois' proclamation that he needs to do something bigger than himself, and Batman's (mostly) failed sneak attack was amazing.

At first I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy a series that changed artists from one issue to the next, but, thus far, each artists has been the perfect choice for each story. From Nick Dragotta's brighter look at the young Kents to Tommy Lee Edwards scratchy pencils demonstrating how violence can strike even the smallest of towns to Jae Lee's near-alien Metropolis, this has been one of the best-drawn, multi-artist series I've seen in a long time.

Comics: 79

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The P Craig Russell Library of Opera Adaptations vols 1-3: This is a really, really fucking shitty reproduction of P Craig Russell's artwork. It's still fucking gorgeous. Pretty sure this is all out of print now, but if you ever come across it, get it. It's worth it. 

Sex Criminals 14: I've kind of been falling out of love with this arc, and haven't been able to articulate why that is. And the four page meta bit in the middle with why Fraction ended up not wanting to fully articulate a scene is kind of a symptom of that. Like, Kelly Sue had similar issues with stuff over on Bitch Planet, but she saved the discussion for the backmatter. Putting it in the middle of the comic just doesn't land it for me. And Suzie articulating what she does at the end of the issue feels like Fraction talking too. I'm gonna be sticking to the trade on this I think, and I'm gonna hope they can get their swing back, or that Fraction takes a break to get his house in order. 

Angela: Queen of Hel 5: So, this isn't appearing after issue 7 on Marvel solicits, and I have a feeling it's been cancelled. But if this is one of the last few issues I get, I'll be happy. Great wrap up to this arc, and the Stephanie Hans splashes are just, holy shit, how many limbs do I need to sell for these? Not sure how I feel about the line explaining why Sera's suddenly so thin (hopefully it's a promise to get her back to model, feels like Marguerite is making an excuse for the artist?), but overall? Hell yes. 

Cry Havoc 2: 

So our baddie is all for harnessing the power of stories and myths, an empire of fictions? Oh keep pushing my buttons, Mr. Spurrier, please keep pushing them.

The flashbacks are good for explaining how we got to here, the action in Afghanistan is great, and it's neat to see how different colorists makes Kelly's artwork look different. Also, boar Hulk. 

Single Issues: 46
TPBs/Collections: 16
Digital First Issues: 10

Edited by Venneh
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Ghost World by Daniel Clowes

Umm...*sigh*...I dunno about this guys.

This is a highly acclaimed comic series that I feel resonated a million times better in the era it came out than it can today. Throughout my entire read-through it was just page after page after page of Enid being horrible to people she doesn't know, and I'm reading this like "Okay, justify this shit. You must." The point has to be better than just "She doesn't know what to do with her life and is as self-loathing as she is about people." There's gotta be something else going on, otherwise this is wankery of the highest order. I've read a lot of reviews showcasing conflicting opinions on the book, and the general consensus is that people like it for it's "frank" (?) take on girls of the post-high-school stage of life which again I have to imagine that was insightful at the time of its original release. But this thing is 75% teen girls fucking with people and 25% "I don't know what I'm going to do with my life" that on first read I'm presuming is meant to explain the reason for their behavior by means of existential crisis. It's really too little, too late by that point. Their problems aren't special or meaningful or justifiable for their actions.

I'm willing to be totally turned around by a second opinion. I plan on reading it again. But after this first read I am not impressed.

Edited by Donomark
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