Report what comic books you have read today--and tell us a little something about it while you're here!
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Report what comic books you have read today--and tell us a little something about it while you're here!
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I went to see Patrick Stewart's one man performance of A Christmas Carol on opening night of his second year at the Broadhurst Theatre in midtown Manhattan. The year after that, I went to see him play Prospero in The Tempest at the same theater. (I was seated first row, center.) He played alongside the troupe that had performed the play as part of "Shakespeare in the Park" the previous summer. I was very impressed with the young actress who played Miranda, and have often wondered what became of her. Then it occurred to me: "I've got a computing machine... why not look her up?" (I still have the Playbill.) You are now witnessing me discover in real time that she is Carrie Preston!
I've caught up on some of the books I read regularly (although I've got whole runs of Krypto, Action, Supergirl, Imperial, Superman, Trinity and more, still in the to-read pile.)
Wonder Woman #28: The current story has made Mouse Man -- yes, Mouse Man -- a genuine threat to WW. But now I've read the final issue of that story and we're moving on to the main event: "Wonder War" with the Matriarch. She basically kills all of Wonder Woman's most famous foes in this future-set story. We've had hints of it to date -- executions of the Big 7 Justice Leaguers, I think, except Wonder Woman, from some future time -- and this has something to do with Trinity (as an adult) interrogating the King of America (in jail), which was teased before the Mouse Man story. Looking forward to it.
JSA #14: Part Two of "Year One," which I covered elsewhere. Bob says it's not exactly a riveting story, and I think he's right. It feels so far like one of Roy Thomas' "Here's a labored story to explain why Doctor Phlegm wasn't wearing gloves in Mucous Men #5 (1940)." When actually it's because the artist forgot to draw them. But since I actually like those kinds of stories, that's not why JSA has been slow for me. It's because the two issues of "Year One" so far have just been set-up. I see this happening with other Jeff Lemire stories, so it may just be his style.
Fantastic Four #6: I've enjoyed Ryan North's run, especialy "One World Under Doom." We've had a few done-in-ones the last few issues, and now we're heading into something titled "Invincible Woman." Looking forward to it.
Justice League Unlimited #13: Despite being technically part of D.C. KO, I can read this story without reading that story. It features eight League/Society variants (electric Superman, for example) going to Hell to confront Neron, who has empowered a lot of D-list villains (like Rainbow Raider) just as the Titans are evacuating the planet. Some of these variants don't make it. And we get Abnegazar, Rath and Ghast, along with the Green Bell of Uthool, the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath and the Red Jar of Calythos! When was the last time those guys showed up?
All the recent Oni/EC books: Covered elsewhere.
Giant-Size Criminal #1: This reminds me how far behind I am on the "Criminal" stories, because I only vaguely remember Rick Lawless. I feel more ashamed than usual, because I really like the Brubaker/Phillips collaborations.
NEW COMICS I HAVE READ TODAY THIS MONTH:
COMIC STRIPS: No progress
AROC OF ZENITH: I'm up to episode #258.
BATMAN BLACK & WHITE COMPENDIUM: On hold until I finish the "Batman Villains" discussions.
Analysis: Fantagraphics and IDW have dropped off the list (did I miss an issue of Twilight Zone?); Marvel is holding steady at two (but next month it will be one); DC remains the strongest with seven (although two are one-shots); Image is a close second with six.
Absolute Batman #15: Origin of the Absolute Universe Joker. He's an ancient eldritch horror that "grows a new face each day." That addresses one issue with "our" Joker, in that it seemed implausible that he could survive everything he has without any permanent injury -- he cut off his own face! And now it's back to normal! -- or be a physical match for Batman. Part of my Joker Fatigue over the years is that he goes toe to toe with one of the greatest fighters in the world without any explanation for why he can do so, and often wins. (In Scott Snyder's run, Joker KNIFES Batman in the ribs. Excuse me? Armored suit? Batman fights guys with knives all the time and is never in jeopardy. But the Joker can knife him, easy-peasy.) Or that Batman bends over so far to keep Joker alive. In whatever series it was that Batman almost married Catwoman, Joker holds a gun to his own head and forces Batman to do what he wants. I threw the book across the room.
So, anyway, this Joker is a lot more plausible as an arch-enemy -- actually, he's borderline Lovecraftian, so it's really an overmatch. But at least when he gives Batman a hard time, I'll believe it.
But that's not what I like about the character. It's that he's a billionaire playboy, who enforces his version of morality secretly, using his vast resources. IOW, he's the Bruce Wayne of this world. Now that's interesting. It raises all sorts of interesting arguments about the morality of our Batman.
Absolute Martian Manhunter #7: It's amazing how swifly I've turned on this book. I really enjoyed the first few issues, which made MM really, really strange, which I have argued for decades ought to be the case. We've already got Superman, so we don't need a green one. Make MM realllly alien, I've always said. Maybe no fixed shape, like a blob of protoplasm. One that simply can't comprehend a society separated by class, race, gender -- by being in individual heads, instead of a hivemind. That isn't the course this book took, but they still made MM really, really strange. And I enjoyed it, when I knew it was going to be resolved in six issues. What a ride that would be! But any ride gets boring if it goes on too long, and when they extended this book to 12 issues, the answers were delayed, the filler material started arriving ... and my interest waned. I am now reading out of obligation, and will get the finale I wanted a month ago in (checks watch) May 2026. If I'm still alive in that far future.
Absolute Superman #14: The first storyline has wrapped up, and a status quo of sorts established. I'm glad to see it, as the endless decompression was wearing on me. I don't like all of the new set-up, as they eliminated some unique elements of this Superman so as to not make him more powerful than our own. But I'm still curious to see how it's all going to fit together.
Absolute Wonder Woman #15: Batman guest stars, but does NOT overshadow the home team, which is welcome. In fact, this a Diana story from beginning to end, and establishes her as the beating heart of this universe. And the set-up is, in fact, a set-up -- the heroes are being set up by Joker and Veronica Cale. But nobody carries the idiot ball, which was another relief. The good guys twig to what's happening early on, because they are not stupid. The how of the trap is still a surprise, but again, nobody is stupid about it. There'a a reason why this book is my favorite of the Absolute books.
Imperial #1-4: Jonathan Hickman puts Marvel's outer space characters in a blender. I'm not particularly invested in any of them, so the new status quo feels pretty similar to the old one, in that I don't really care which alien race is first among equals among all the other alien races. But I'm sure that's just me.
Imperial War: Nova: Centurion: I've got the first two issues of his ongoing, so I should probably read those before commenting.
Imperial War: Imperial Guardians: This book kills off two characters (Gamora and Nighthawk) who are members of the upcoming Imperial Guardians ongoing. So their deaths will be brief. Oh, and Cosmic Ghost Rider is present, although I thought he existed in a future timeline. And for some reason he's taking orders from someone in our time, although I have no idea why he would do that. (IIRC, he took orders from Galactus in the future, which requires no explanation.) No doubt this came about in some book I'm not reading.
Imperial War: Exiles: Professor X and the LIlandra clone finally join the party and their impact is ... minimal. Something of a surprise, since we went through that whole "Hunt for Xavier" thing that got them here. Honestly, I expected a bit more of a pay-off. In fact, I feel a bit used.
Imperial War: Planet She-Hulk: I like She-Hulk, but I like her best in her natural milieu, with droll humor in and out of court. Making her the warlord of the dreadful and painfully boring planet Sakaar (well, Sakaar II) takes all of the fun out it. I've got two issues of her new series, too, just to see if they liven things up a little. I'll report back when I've read them.
Imperial War: Black Panther: It read like standard Black Panther stuff, with T'Challa being, like, the most super-competent guy in the universe. I generally enjoy that -- Batman could take lessons -- but this felt more like set-up than an actual story.
I never make New Year's resolutions, but I often set goals (which could be at anytime throughout the year). Last year, one of my goals (to read various and sundry comic strip collections I have purchased) coincided with the new year, and also overlapped with another, ongoing goal (to read various and sundry comic book collections I have purchased). I made a good stab at reading comic strip collections (up to five at a time), but petered out after six months.
2025 ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
For Better or for Worse - v5-9 - 1993-2008
Prince Valiant - v12-29 - 1959-1994*
Peanuts Every Sunday - v1-10 - 1952-2000
Pogo, the Complete Syndicated Comic Strips - v1-3 - 1949-1954**
Flash Gordon
Tarzan Sundays - v1-6 - 1931-1937****
Gasoline Alley - 1964-1966 (one volume), plus most strips 1969-1992
Doonesbury - 5 volumes - 2016-2025
Funky Winkerbean - v14-15 - 2011-2016
Batman - 1989-1991
*v30 has since been released
**v3 uncompleted
***Moore/Briggs Sundays uncompleted
****v6 uncompleted
Note: I also read some comic book collections in 2025.
2025 CONCLUSIONS: I'm really going to have to pick up the pace if I want to acheive these goals before I die.
2026 GOALS:
Ultimate Endgame #1
The Ultimates #19
Tales of Paranoia.
This is Crumb, now an octogenarian, presenting his first published solo work in more than twenty years. His artwork remains technically excellent and dark. Unfortunately, too much of the art here consists of his face, as he rants on, literal old man yelling at the clouds (I'm not the first to make this comparison. I won't be the last), but at least acknowledging that's what he's doing. Seriously, much of the comic resembles a screencapped YouTube vlog or illustrated Reddit post. Although Crumb has time for other conspiracies and his own history of paranoia, he directs most of his rant at the Covid pandemic and Big Pharma. He both questions and defends his own conspiratorial leanings, while dismissing others. In all fairness, the ones he dismisses are pretty dumb and dismal. He at least tries to be informed, even while bemoaning his inability to be certain of anything.
The comic becomes something far better whenever Crumb decides to do something else. His final story with and about his late wife, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, is genuinely touching. He also gives us a disturbing account of his worst LSD trip (if it even was LSD in this instance; he's not certain), which did little to diminish his paranoic tendences. Read it for these tales. If you're into comic art, buy it, for no other reason, than Crumb's creepy cover.
Crumb has always been able to engage and fascinate readers or, perhaps, a certain kind of reader, even when we disagree with or are even outraged by what he says and draws. Tales of Paranoia is more sad than outrageous. Crumb completists will buy it, and, while no completist, I'm glad that I did, but I wouldn't recommend it as an entry point to his work.
That's a really good review, JD. (I posted my thoughts back on p. 737.)
In whatever series it was that Batman almost married Catwoman, Joker holds a gun to his own head and forces Batman to do what he wants.
Shades of Blazing Saddles!
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