MARVEL COMICS
"Blood Hunt" Week 14:
BLOOD HUNT #5 (OF 5) All three of the press releases I got on this issue tout the "heavy price" that must be paid to beat the vampires. I think we explored this last week, and my guess then was that the "heavy price" will be Doctor Doom becoming the Sorcerer Supreme of the 616..
BLOOD HUNT #5 (OF 5) – RED BAND EDITION [POLYBAGGED]
Blood Hunt #5 Red Band cover homages Vault of Horror #30
Also:
- FANTASTIC FOUR #22: "Weapon X-Traction" Part 3.
- MIDNIGHT SONS: BLOOD HUNT #3 (OF 3)
This week in Spider-Man
- AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #54
- SPIDER-GWEN: THE GHOST-SPIDER #3
- SPIDER-MAN: SHADOW OF GREEN GOBLIN #4
This week in Star Wars:
- STAR WARS: DARTH MAUL — BLACK WHITE & RED #4 (OF 4)
- STAR WAR:S LEGENDS: TALES OF THE JEDI OMNIBUS HC
- STAR WARS: MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION VOL 1: SKYWALKER STRIKE TP
This week in Ultimates:
- ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #6 2ND PTG TAKESHI MIYAZAWA VARIANT
- ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #7
This week in Venom
BLACK WIDOW: VENOMOUS #1 ONE-SHOT: I guess Natasha having a symbiote is planned to be long term. Too bad — I think it diminishes the character. Anyway, this issue reveals the specifics of their relationship in anticipation of Black Widow's role in the upcoming "Venom War."
Also:
- VENOMVERSE REBORN #1 (OF 4) 2ND PTG GREG LAND VARIANT
This week in X-Men
X-FORCE #1: Forge's power has taken a level up to Omega, and now he can see everything in the world that's broken. So he recruits Rachel Summers, Betsy Braddock, Sage, Surge and a new kid Tank for off-the-books missions to fix what broken. There will also be specialists for each mission, Mission: Impossible style, and the first one is the guy with a movie this month. No, not Wolverine, the other guy in the title. They all have uniforms, which works great for characters who have been non-descript to this point, like Rachel, Sage and Forge. But does this mean that Betsy isn't Captain Britain any more?
Also:
- DEADPOOL/WOLVERINE: WWIII #2 2ND PTG ADAM KUBER VARIANT
- HELLVERINE #3 (OF 4)
- IMMORTAL THOR #13: "Deadpool/Wolverine: Weapon X-Traction" Part 5
- MS. MARVEL ANNUAL #1: "Infinity Watch" Part 4
- UNCANNY X-FORCE BY RICK REMENDER OMNIBUS HC DM NEW PTG
- X-MEN: HEIR OF APOCALYPSE #4 (OF 4)
Elsewhere at Marvel
ANNIHILATION 2099 #5 (OF 5) introduces Dracula 2099. In space.
MARVEL & DISNEY: WHAT IF…? DONALD DUCK BECAME WOLVERINE #1: This is a cute idea for illustrations, but I don't think I'd want to read a whole book about it. Of course, someday somebody from the 616 will visit this world, and I'll be sorry that I don't know the backstory. (A little bit.)
DC COMICS
"Absolute Power" Week 5:
ABSOLUTE POWER: TASK FORCE VII #3 (OF 7): We've got a name for the Amazo that stole the JSA's powers: Jadestone. But he's got a problem, in that his AI may not be a match for Alan Scott's will power. Who but Mark Waid would think of that complication? It's another gun on the mantelpiece for Amanda Waller's comeuppance.
P.S. Most weeks have two Absolute Power-related titles, but this week — a fifth week — only has one. There were three last week, so it averages out.
This week in Batman:
- BATMAN DETECTIVE COMICS VOL. 1: GOTHAM NOCTURE OVERTURE TP
- BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD'S FINEST VOL. 2: STRANGE VISITOR TP
- NIGHTWING VOL. 4: THE LEAP TP
- RED HOOD: THE HILL #6 (OF 6)
Elsewhere at DC:
- HITMAN BY GARTH ENNIS AND JOHN MCCREA OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC: I've always wondered what I'd do when this started getting reprinted in HC. I mildly enjoyed the title at the time, and now some of these characters are showing up in the animated Harley Quinn and Kite Man, Hell Yeah! But is that enough to force me to make room on the shelf for books I've already read? Do I really want to introduce my wife to Dog-Welder and Señor Bueno? I guess the moment of decision has come!
- JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1 FACSIMILE EDITION: This may be the one issue of Justice League I never got. Or was it #3? I used to worry about things like that, until Silver Age back issue prices leaped to Elon Musk territory. Now I content myself with reprints. When it comes to completing Silver Age collections, my LCS guy says, "That ship has sailed."
- SUPER-PETS SPECIAL: BITEDENTITY CRISIS #1 ONE-SHOT: I didn't care for this story when it had humans in it.
IMAGE COMICS
BONE ORCHARD MYTHOS: TENEMENT HC: Collects Bone Orchard: Tenement #1-10. I was baffled by the first few issue of this concept (a one-shot and a miniseries, I think) and gave up on it. I'm waiting for a Legionnaire to tell me that it got really awesome and I need to read the whole thing. Hasn't happened yet.
GROMMETS #3 (OF 7)
Elsewhere at Image:
- IMAGE FIRSTS: ARROWSMITH #1
- IMAGE FIRSTS: SAVAGE DRAGON #1 CURR PTG
- IMAGE FIRSTS: UNNATURAL #1
DARK HORSE
BUTCHER’S BOY #3 (OF 4)
REVIEW: This is pretty hardcore horror, which is not my thing, but I'm enjoying the craft.
It starts with six friends — well, two have recently broken up, which provides some ugly drama — who go on a road trip to a ghost town. I know, I know, I make fun of this very thing in my Murdervale review, below. But there are reasons they do this, and those reasons are plausible and important.
Without giving too much more away, the first issue jumped back and forth in time to happy-before-Saturday to awful-slaughtery-Saturday, and images and references were made that I didn't understand. But then all was made clear in this, the third issue. Very nicely done. Now all that remains is the fourth issue, and already we know this is not going to end well. It isn't even "middling" well.
MURDERVALE TP
REVIEW: I was really looking forward to this, because I love bad guys who wear Plague Doctor masks. I just love Plague Doctor masks! They are just inherently evil! But I was very disappointed — so disappointed that I didn't even finish the book.
It's a horror story from Europe (although it seems to be set in the U.S.) about some kind of evil in a mostly abandoned small town that wants the future baby of the protagonist couple for, I assume, evil reasons. I got more than halfway through, but this just felt like such well-trodden ground, and I disliked the protagonists so much, that I really wasn't curious as to how it would end. And I gave up.
By "well-trodden ground" I mean like the slasher movies we used to make fun of in my youth, where everybody is impossibly pretty, but incredibly stupid, and everyone keeps making the dumbest mistakes imaginable. They even make commercials about that sort of thing now, with one insurance ad (for what product I don't remember) showing the teens running from the slasher in some dark, scary abandoned farm and one saying "why don't we get into that running truck and drive away" but is shamed by the others who instead want to hide behind a bunch of hanging chainsaws. One shouts "Why don't we hide in the basement?" Even the murderer is shown shaking his head at how dumb they are.
The protagonists here aren't teenagers, and they don't die (at least in the part I read), but they are equally dumb. For one thing, they take the advice of a mysterious and cryptic gas-station attnedant to find a lake to vacation at. Who does that? Do they not have Internet booking in Europe?
Anyway, the town seems run-down and abandoned except for a mysterious and cryptic hotel clerk who says, frankly, threatening things that would drive away anybody who isn't required to stay for the plot. They then go into a church, which is empty except for a few bodies in the pews, and when I say "bodies" that's what they look like to the reader, and later to the protagonists, who do not notice they are all dead.
Also, the town is actually named Murdervale. I thought it would be a nickname, but no, there's a sign and everything. Regular readers know how I feel about towns with such an evil name that it's impossible to believe some city council signed off on it. But worse, why do the protagonists not recoil at this? Would YOU stay overnight in a deserted town named "Murdervale"? The highway's right over there, and you can drive to someplace THAT DOESN'T LOOK AND SOUND LIKE IT'S GOING TO KILL YOU. The next town over probably has a nice Marriott with turn-down service and, you know, people who aren't dead.
Later on — at least nine months later on, obviously — the couple's baby is kidnapped, and the husband returns to Murdervale to rescue it. But does not come armed in any way. He has to drive there, so he has plenty of time to stop for, I dunno, a hammer? A screwdriver? If this is in America, he could ask the nearest middle school student for a gun. Or maybe call the police? But no, he enters a trap that he should know is a trap, all alone and completely unarmed. What an idiot.
tl;dr I started to feel like I did in Blair Witch Project, where everybody was so dumb I wanted them to die. Not only would that end the movie quicker, but it would clean up the gene pool.
Also, as implied, they are imossibly attractive for an average couple, with the wife pregnant but not showing yet, so she can still be shapely and wear a lot of revealing clothing. In fact, she later gives birth — she has to have a baby, because that's what The Evil wants, remember — but I don't think she's ever shown pregnant.
Maybe. I kept falling asleep, so maybe not. But I don't care enough to double check. There's your review.
But fair's fair, so I'll give Spanish writer/artist Vicente Cifuentes his quotes:
“Murdervale has been one of the works that have brought me the most joy personally,” Cifuentes said, “not only when I started to write it, but also after the years, seeing how fans keep asking me for a new installment. When I started writing the first book, I could not imagine what I was really creating, I used it more as an artistic and personal catharsis; I needed to release this story into the world.
“I wanted to tell ordinary stories, with characters that people could easily connect with, and stories that would show us their inner worlds and their personal growing. This is what I wanted to do in Murdervale, by developing each character little by little and seeing how they evolve in an environment that I’ve always been a big fan of: horror-thriller. Well, in Murdervale I also wanted to honor some of the movies I grew up with in the '80s-'90s.
“Also, I looked for a comfortable rhythm for the reader, and this is why each arc starts with a similar structure in the making of the story, with the intention that the reader feels comfortable in a journey that somehow seems familiar, but that changes and provides new information every time, creating an atmosphere that catches her/him from the very first minute.”
IDW PUBLISHING
GODZILLA RIVALS VS. MANDA #1: I've been excited to find out that the Godzilla books at IDW aren't necessarily for kids, which is what I always assumed. But I think this one might be.
Godzilla battles a long-necked sea monster that looks like a dragon, which can't really concern Big G fans, because how difficult can one head be after Ghidrah? But the story is told through the eyes of humans who are in the danger zone, which is better for drama anyway. And it would be very suspenseful, if the art wasn't cartoony. I mean, some of the characters literally look like they stepped out of a Lego movie.
I don't particularly care for cartoon art, but it's not a deal-breaker. However, it does tend to suggest that nothing bad will happen, and sure enough, nothing does. Yeah, I think this one might be for kids.
MORE COMICS
ADRASTEA GN: Mathieu Bablet writes and illustrates this mature-readers Magnetic Press graphic novel about the immortal king of Hyperborea, who decides after 1,000 years on the throne to go to Mt. Olympus to find out why they made him immortal, and what he can do to get out of it. This sounds kind of like a real old-fashioned Greek myth, and the art looks perfect for the job.
ALLEY OOP AND THE ART INVASION TP: Comic-strip collectors alert!
ALLEY OOP AND THE DRAGON OF SILENE TP: Comic-strip collectors alert!
ARCHIE COMICS JUDGMENT DAY #3 (OF 3)
BIDEN’S TITANS VS. MICKEY MOUSE (UNAUTHORIZED) #1: Oops. A little late, ain'tcha?
BLADE RUNNER: TOKYO NEXUS #1 (OF 4)
BOTTOM’S UP (ONE SHOT): I'm super-duper not into cooking and food, but many other people are. This Silver Sprocket offering is for them: "Suzette is an over-kneaded and over-proofed pastry chef, running a cooking blog and doing her best to share whatever culinary wisdom she's managed to scrape from the city's top kitchens. Her latest post introduces 'interview tiramisu,' a dessert so good it'll land her a juicy new job opportunity. Yet as she runs all over town acquiring the very best ingredients, why does she get the creeping feeling that everything's about to go really, really wrong?"
CROSS COUNTRY #1: Scout Comics has had some issues with creators, and has sort-of relaunched with a new imprint called "Dark Harbor." This is the first title in the new line. It' about a guy who picks up a hitch-hiker on a cross-country trip, and believe it or not, something goes wrong!
CTHULHU: DEEP DOWN UNDER VOL 1 GN: Here's a mature-readers story from Australian publisher IPI Comics. I'd sure like to see a preview, but I can't find one. The story takes place in Australia, like parts of The Call of Cthulhu did.
DAISYCHAIN: DARK DESIRES PART 1 #1 is a mature-readers title from Comicsburgh. It's about a woman who's a socialite by day and a killer by night, which is not something you run across very often. Aren't bored socialites supposed to become superheroes? Anyway, the art looks a little rough, but the concept could carry it.
preview
DELIGHTS: A STORY OF HIERONYMUS BOSCH HC: Guy Colwell writes and draws this black-and-white historical graphic novel for Fantagraphics. The art looks appropriate.
DOA INC LLC #1 (American Mythology): Based on the novels of G.O. Parsons, whom I've never heard of, this stars two people who kill zombies and monsters in gonzo ways. Sounds like Zombieland on steroids.
preview
FLORIDA MAN VS. HOGZILLA #1 (American Mythology): This is written by Mike Baron. Based on his "X" posts, I will never patronize his work again.
GEORGE SAND: TRUE GENIUS, TRUE WOMAN GN (SelfMadeHero): If nothing else, comic books teach me about historical figures I would never otherwise have heard of. "George Sand" was the nom de plume of Lucile Aurore Dupin, who published as a man in 19th century France because patriarchy.
GIANT HC (Faber ad Faber) is a worldless graphic novel by UK artist Mollie Ray. Somehow inspired by her family's experience with a life-threatening illness, one of two boys wakes up one day as a giant. Well, at least it wasn't a cockroach, since that's been done.
GUNBREED: MURDER OF TALKING CROWS (Blood Moon Comics): A weird Western anthology. Comical/Opinions has a REVIEW/PREVIEW.
HEADSMAN #1 (OF 3): "Headsman is a graphical and monologic journal of the invention of the perfect execution by Headsman Volt: a superhuman executioner and descendant of the great inventor, Thomas A. Edison." No preview available. (Blood Moon Comics)
IRIS: A NOVEL FOR VIEWERS TP (Fantagraphics): "This first-ever Dutch graphic novel is a tour-deforce in all its 1960s psychedelic, pop art, and playfully erotic glory. ...The characters' emotions drive the anti-capitalist, dystopian narrative in Iris: A Novel for Viewers."
That's a lot of words that don't say much, so here are some pictures:
KOMMIX (Fantagraphics): Charles Burns (Black Hole) presents a whole book of covers in the style of the 1940s and '50s for comics that never existed. But if they had, I'd have collected them.
preview
KOSHER MAFIA #1 (OF 5): "In Cleveland, Ohio, in 1936, Howard Berkowicz, the bookkeeper for the Jewish Mob finds himself on the wrong end of an enforcer's gun when he tries to spur the Kosher Mafia into action against the rising tide of domestic Nazism in the German American Bund." (Mad Cave Studios)
There actually were several Jewish mobs in the early part of the 20th century. I don't know if this is based on any of them in particular.
LONG ROAD TO RETRIBUTION #1 (OF 4): Two cops are sent to a space station for a year. Things go awry. (Blood Moon Comics.)
MOTHBALLS TP (Fantagraphics): "In this moving family saga, a teenage woman uncovers the hushed history of sexual violence that shattered her grandmother's life." It takes place in Buenos Aires, and HERE'S A PREVIEW.
NIGHT STALKER VOL 1 GN (1First Comics) "Dyana, the Night Stalker, is the Dark Lord's bounty hunter and this leather-clad death demon is a new kind of hellraiser! With no soul, but a nasty attitude, Dyana fears nothing and no one and will stop at nothing to get her prey!"
I remember when 1First Comics had one of the best lineups extant. Scout, Whisper, Badger, Nexus, Grimjack, Sable, American Flagg ... them was the days.
NINJAK VS ROKU #2 (OF 4): Valiant "Road to Resurgence" alert!
PEANUTS: HERE’S TO YOU CHARLIE BROWN SC: Comic-strip collector's alert!
ROCK & ROLL BIOGRAPHIES: RUN DMC: Exactly what it says it is. (10 Ton Press.)
THIRTEEN ORIGINS: Scout Comics has a superhero team of Mexicans and Mexican Americans that number 13, cleverly named "The Thirteen." Here are one-shot origins of five of 'em: Cloudbreak, Dragonthrall, Florescent, Gila Girl and Vendaval.
I'm pretty sure I dated Gila Girl in college.
THREE EXORCISM SIBLINGS VOL 2 GN
VALIANT UNIVERSE HERO ORIGINS: FAITH TP: Valiant "Road to Resurgence" alert!
WENDY AWARD GN: DRAWN & QUARTERLY (MR) (W) Walter Scott (A/CA) Walter Scott Everybody's favorite party girl Wendy is so back! When Wendy is nominated for the coveted National FoodHut Contemporary Art Prize alongside her friend Winona, all of her millennial dreams seem to be coming true. But not even achieving bona fide art star fame can hide the truth: a never-ending struggle with imposter syndrome. $22.95
World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #142
Replies
Captain Comics said:
Sounds like a Vertigo version of Rose and The Thorn to me.
Oh yeah. I see that now.
Unless they've really powered him up, Manda should be nothing more tn a minor irritant to Godzilla. He'd make a good threat if they were doing a Minilla book, though.
X-FORCE #1: Luis made a cogent point (on another thread) which bears repeating here:
"I just now realized why X-Force keeps being published and relaunched when it has no clear reason for existing.
"It is _because_ it has no clear mission. Any group of, say, four mutants willing to act as an ad hoc militia can call themselves the newest X-Force. No need to establish a clear mission, specific membership, or even a field leader."
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #7: I have decided to drop USM because it's just not fun to read.
FLORIDA MAN VS. HOGZILLA #1 (American Mythology): This is written by Mike Baron. Based on his "X" posts, I will never patronize his work again.
I bought the first Florida Man limited series last year in order to fill a "Badger-shaped hole in my life." It wasn't very good, but it did inspire me to read the first (of three) Florida Man prose novels. That wasn't very good, either. The first mini-series was a faithful adaptation of part of the first paperback. Based on the books he has written so far, he has enough material to adapt into comics form for some time to come. I hesitate to ask, but what did he say on "X"? No! Don't tell me! (I don't want to know.)
KOMMIX (Fantagraphics): Charles Burns (Black Hole) presents a whole book of covers in the style of the 1940s and '50s for comics that never existed. But if they had, I'd have collected them.
I have it in my notes that I pre-ordered this, but I didn't remember what it was. Oh, yeah... I remember now. Looks good, right up my alley.
Unless they've really powered him up, Manda should be nothing more tn a minor irritant to Godzilla.
Ha! Really.
It sure feels like Blood Hunt will end up with Stephen handing out the role of Sorcerer Supreme to Victor Von Doom.
Once I get past the gut reaction of unfairness, it sounds like a promising development. Stephen is much more than the role, which he lost at least twice before. And Doom will probably be at least entertaining in the role, dealing with the likes of Nightmare and the same Mephisto that used to imprison his mother.
On the other hand, I would feel very vulnerable were I a denizen of the MU right now. Particularly if I had secrets that can be exposed by magic (which is pretty much any secrets).
There actually were several Jewish mobs in the early part of the 20th century. I don't know if this is based on any of them in particular.
I was watching one of the million docuseries about mobsters, and there was an episode about the Juewish gangsters. An interesting point I thought, was that these guys were actually trying to get a legit life for their families, and keep them out of a life of crime. Which why most, if not all of them, were one generation and done.
Luis Olavo de Moura Dantas said:
It sure feels like Blood Hunt will end up with Stephen handing out the role of Sorcerer Supreme to Victor Von Doom.
That is reminiscent of Doctor Octopus taking over as Spider-Man.
A couple of things I just noticed...
1) Kosher Mafia has an O.T.S.S.E. cover.
2) The full title of that "Godzilla" comic is Godzilla Rivals: Manda. "Rival" for what? "King of the Monsters?" Hardly.