The Week of May 8 in Review – Preview

This week I’m doing six posts, Monday contains a some quick hits on everything I read and Tuesday is five short solo reviews spotlighting five new series from the last two weeks as I missed a week.

The clips:

Some of What I Read, Part 1 of 6 - The Week of May 8 in Review

Batman #20 was just flat out fun. Capullo can draw the crap out of Batman and each issue is just beautiful. Scott does a nice job with Batman defeating Clayface. My one gripe is that Snyder has fallen in love with Batman having more gadgets then ever. On one hand, of course Batman would own every technological advantage possible. On the other hand I like to think ultimately Batman’s brains and physical skill can take down almost anyone. It is a tough line to straddle with the level of foes Batman is up against. All in all this is just a rock solid beautiful book. Another plus is  that this book will not be part of any of other “events” for a little while.

Buy it.

Suicide Risk #1 A Review Part 2 of  6 - The Week of May 8 in Review

The first think that strikes me is seeing Mike Carey writing for BOOM Studios. I know Waid wrote for them, but after he was their EIC for awhile. Carey has done a lot of work for Marvel and Vertigo so it was surprising to see him show up at BOOM. I’m curious as to the ownership of the story and other background details. The one thing this points out to me is that more and more the choice of creators is not just Marvel or DC.

The story itself was interesting. Our point of view character, Leo, is a normal police officer in a world where super powers have been cropping up more and more. Also the good guys seem to become bad guys rather quickly.

Ten Grand #1 – A Review Part 3 of  6 - The Week of May 8 in Review

Once you have read as many stories as I have it is it is hard to not read something and say it reminds me of this, this and this. It is a function of being a fan of stories via comics, TV, movies and books and then multiplying by my age. Ten Grand is about an ex-hit man trying to pay off his debt to heaven to buy a few minutes with his dead wife on occasion. A little Hellblazer mixed with a hard edge noir character and the assassin with a heart of gold type deal. This thing could have easily been a train wreck as all the disparate elements have to be put together right to make it work. JMS and Templesmith pull it off.

X #1 A Review Part 4 of  6 - The Week of May 8 in Review

X is a revival of Dark Horse’s nineties foray into super heroes. Instead of the excess of the nineties Dark Horse seems to be dipping its toe slowly in the water in reviving Ghost, X and other characters. First off they do some work in Dark Horse Presents. Then they green light a mini-series and watch the sales to see if they are getting it right or not.  Therefore the Zero issue is a repacking of the Dark Horse Presents stuff and then we jump into issue #1. Duane Swierczynski seems to be the go to guy for the hard edge and shoot’em up type of characters. Paired with Eric Nguyen the series has the right type of feel for a vigilante who seems to be more prone to getting himself beat up and shot as much as he defeats the bad guys.

Uber #1 – A Review Part 5 of 6 – The Week of May 8 in Review

It starts with Hitler about to blow his brains out when he receives news they have won the battle. We jump around and find out Churchill is crushed by the news, but a spy from England has been part of what the Nazis have been doing. She succeeds in blowing up production of the drugs that are making super humans and is trying to make it to England. The Nazis are reveling in their glory and some are wondering what they have unleashed. The atrocities of WWII just got ratcheted up a level as we watch a super soldier slaughter POWs.

Chin Music #1 – A Review Part 6 of 6 – The Week of May 8 in Review

The story opens with our PI scratching runes into his bullets. The time frame appears to be the late 30’s. He sticks a gun out a window and fires. We then flip to what appears to be a Middle Eastern country. Some form of mystic battle takes place and a skeleton is still alive and crawls away after losing the fight. He is told that if he interferes again they will track him down and kill him. He looks dead to me already.

Tune in Monday and Tuesday for the full length features.