What Comic Books Have You Read Today?

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Report what comic books you have read today--and tell us a little something about it while you're here!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

It was a good week for new comics.

PARKER GIRLS #5 by Terry Moore

BILLIONAIRE ISLAND: CULT OF DOGS #4 by Mark Russel and Steve Pugh

DANGER STREET #3 by Tom King

WASP #2 by Al Ewing

FANTASTIC FOUR #4: This is the end of the first storyline and the mystery that has been in the background since #1 has been revealed. I was planning to stop here, but I see this is "LGY #697" so I may stick around for a few months more. This is a reboot AFAIAC, displaying no more continuity with the Lee/Kirby or John Byrne versions than Sean Connery's "James Bond" has with Danial Craig's. That's not a difficult mindset to maintain, given the different powersets displayed by the FF, particularly Mr. Fantastic. He uses his more more like Plastic Man than what I have come to expect from Reed Richards. I've previously mentioned the things he can do with his eyeballs; in this issue he creates multiple "arms" from his chest. Franklin, too. for decades now he has had blond hair; now (for some reason) it is jet black. Next issue, Aunt Petunia is brought (back?) into the plot. 

[MethodEng]

If I remember correctly (no guarantee) Franklin dyed his hair black as a part of a teenage rebellion phase a few years back.

Although I'm not sure how old he is now.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

It was a good week for new comics.

PARKER GIRLS #5 by Terry Moore

BILLIONAIRE ISLAND: CULT OF DOGS #4 by Mark Russel and Steve Pugh

DANGER STREET #3 by Tom King

WASP #2 by Al Ewing

FANTASTIC FOUR #4: This is the end of the first storyline and the mystery that has been in the background since #1 has been revealed. I was planning to stop here, but I see this is "LGY #697" so I may stick around for a few months more. This is a reboot AFAIAC, displaying no more continuity with the Lee/Kirby or John Byrne versions than Sean Connery's "James Bond" has with Danial Craig's. That's not a difficult mindset to maintain, given the different powersets displayed by the FF, particularly Mr. Fantastic. He uses his more more like Plastic Man than what I have come to expect from Reed Richards. I've previously mentioned the things he can do with his eyeballs; in this issue he creates multiple "arms" from his chest. Franklin, too. for decades now he has had blond hair; now (for some reason) it is jet black. Next issue, Aunt Petunia is brought (back?) into the plot. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

If I remember correctly (no guarantee) Franklin dyed his hair black as a part of a teenage rebellion phase a few years back.

Okay, that tracks. (I haven't read FF regularly since the Mark Waid run.)

Oh, I forgot to mention: Mr. F. can shape his hands into blades and saws. 

[ClarkKent_DC]

I hit the Friends of the Library store yesterday and scored most of the run of Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre / Supernatural Law. A long time ago I had a similar opportunity to get most of the run but at the time couldn't afford it; this time, I decided I couldn't afford not to get them.

I've seen this series only intermittently, but have always enjoyed it. The conceit is that law partners Alana Wolff and Jeff Byrd represent the creatures of the night: werewolves, vampires, ghosts, zombies, swamp monsters, poltergeists, etc., etc., and so forth. Writer/artist Batton Lash, who is a lawyer, imbues the series with whimsical humor but grounds it in legal procedure that would pass muster with Bob Ingersoll and satisfies me, who is not a lawyer (and doesn't play one on TV).

Sadly, Batton Lash died in 2019 of brain cancer. 

[The Baron]

My Hero Academia, vol. 33, coincidentally, a series recommended to me by Randy Jackson.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

SUPERMAN #1: Perry White is on sabatical due to a recent stroke (suffered in Action Comics #1050). Lois Lane is now editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet. Jimmy Olsen has a live-in girlfriend. Lex Luthor is in prison. LexCorps has rebranded itself "SuperCorps" and is being run by Mercy Graves. Captain Maggie Sawyer (of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit) has gone to Bludhaven and has been replaced by Neo Kekoa. Villains this issue include Livewire and the Parasite (in addition to Lex Luthor). Luthor fancies himself as Superman's partner and benefactor. He has set up SuperCorps in such a way that, if Superman refuses to work for him, all of LexCorp's contracts will be terminated, which will affect "nearly half the people in Metropolis" who work for LexCorps "in one form or another... and they would all be out of work." Luthor has even gone so far as to set up a hologram of himself, dressed in Kryptonian garb, to interact with Superman, referring to Superman as "Kal-El" and "my son." 

This is really not my cup of tea. To put that in perspective, I like it about as much as I did the recent World's Finest series. I know two of us here really liked that, so you two might like this as well.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: SENTINAL OF LIBERTY #7-9: I meant to drop this series with #6, but I accidentally bought #7. The #9 came out featuring a new team of Invaders, so I bit the bullet and bought #8-9. #7 begins with a meeting between Steve Rogers and Prince Namor discussing James Buchanan Barnes. "Bucky" (as I still think of him) has apparently been a member of a clandestine group known as the "Outer Circle" ever since the Camp Lehigh days. I don't like this revelation any more than I did the continuity implant of the "Illuminati" because it just doesn't work. 

Cap calls together a group of allies comprising Nick Fury, Jr., Sharon Carter, Peggy Carter, Roger Aubrey (the original Destroyer), Hawkeye, the Black Widow and a robot called the Redacted. They decide to attack Arnim Zola at AIM's Manhattan HQ before AIM is ready to mount their main offensive in five days time. (AIM is affiliated with the Outer Circle in some way.) During the strategy-planning session, the seven suddenly find themselves scattered across the United States, five days into the future, with no memory of how they got where they are or what happened during those five days.

By this time, AIM has thrown a force field around all of Manhattan. Cap and his allies regroup and he calls in a favor from Emma Frost to uncover their missing memories. What happened was, they did infiltrate AIM HQ and encountered MODOC (an iteration of MODOK which stands for Mental Organism Designed Only for Control.) MODOC is horrifying in appearance; he looks like the original MODOK except with long arms and legs which allow him to scurry around like a spider. Hawkeye is on standby with the Avengers, and Cap decides to leave him out because Hawkeye "signed [his] name on the line and agreed to play by rigged rules," concluding "This fight doesn't need super heroes... it needs Invaders."

They breach the forcefield, split their forces and are eventually overcome by MODOC, at which time it is revealed that everything that happened during the missing five days never happened. They were subdued on their first assault and everything that has "happened" since has been implanted in their minds by MODOC. I think. Something like that, anyway. 

I would like to point out that Sharon Carter (two series back) had been showing signs of aging after having been stuck in Dimension X (or Z or whatever) for a decade. She's back to being young again. It has been a long time since Peggy was "retconned" into being her aunt rather than her sister, but she's looking pretty young theses days, too. Roger Aubrey is an old man, yet in costume he's as agile as any super-hero in his prime. And I guess you know about Nick Fury, Jr. 

SHE-HULK #10: The five-page scene between Jennifer Walters and Patsy Walker is the most realistically portrayed depiction of two women talking I have seen in comics in a while and is the highlight of the issue. 

MY BAD v2 #4: This issue comes with a disclaimer: "This issue contains extreme lizard violence. Both giving and receiving violence. the amount of herpetological carnage contained in this issue cannot be overstated or, frankly, justified. We just have no idea what reades want anymore, so we are willing to take risks, horrible risks, to sell a comic book."

SUPERMAN: SPACE AGE #3: This series will go down alongside All-Star Superman, Superman For All Seasons, etc. as one of the best Superman series ever. 

NEXUS: NEFARIOUS: (See here for comments.)

HULK: GRAND DESIGN: This is the collection, in the new(-ish) "treasury edition" format), of last year's two-issue series. It is the third (or the fifth, depending on how you count) of Marvel's "Grand Design" series, which reinterprets entire series as if they had been planned that way all along. This one is by Jim Rugg has has more of a "real world" feel to it than the others. The first original issues covered the Hulk's story from the beginning through #300, and the second from #301 through "World War Hulk." 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

The first original issues covered the Hulk's story from the beginning through #300, and the second from #301 through "World War Hulk."

Not quite. Hulk: Grand Design summarizes through #474; Planet Hulk, World War Hulk and Future Imperfect are dealt with in the epilogue. 

[ClarkKent_DC]

I've been poring through Showcase Presents: Weird War Tales Vol. 1. It includes issues #1-21. The first few issues are all reprint stories from other war titles in the DC stable such as G.I. Combat, Star-Spangled War Stories, Our Fighting Forces, All-American Men of War, with framing sequences drawn by Joe Kubert, Alex Toth and others. A few issues in, the title switched to all-original stories.

Usually, I don't favor black-and-white reprints of stories that were first published in color, but it actually works well here, especially with atmospheric Kubert art as well as works from old masters Russ Heath, George Evans, Neal Adams, Alfredo P. Acala, Irv Novick, Alex Nino, Frank "Quico" Redondo and more.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

After Tales to Astonish and The Abomination I was still in a "Hulk" mood, so I read the Byrne run, Future Imperfect, The End, the three Maestro limited series and Grand Design. I am currently reading HULK! magazine starting with #10, the first color issue. I am up to #18 and fully expect to get through #27 soon. These are very good Hulk stories and I would like to see Marvel give this run (#10-27) the hardcover treatment. 

[doc photo]

Popeye:The E.C.Segar Sundays volume 1 of 4. Thank goodness Fantagraphics is reprinting this material. Previous collections are almost impossible to find.

[Julian Gift]

Back issues that I have enjoyed reading : 

 Imagine serving a summons on super villains. 

 The law firm that represents supernatural clients. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #4: In this issue, Stargirl realizes that if all of the kid sidekicks are returned to the moment they were taken from the time stream, Wing will die fighting the Nebula Man. I'm not sure what the endgame looks like here. When this series is over, with the DCU of the past be populated with hitherto unknown child heroes? Or will they all be in the present somehow? Or will there be no change to the status quo whatsoever? The full-page panel cliffhanger is intrigueing.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: SENTINEL OF LIBERTY #10: A middle chapter of a storyline which, now that I'm caught up, I'm not all that invested in. At the end of this issues, one of the Invaders dies.

A lackluster week, I must say.