Reading Comics #140 "Bull Moose Bargains IV"

Atomic Robo: The Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur #1 (Red 5)

via Razorfine

From 2013.

Hey, so I love Atomic Robo.  The genius creation of Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener is, among other things, the perennial highlight of Free Comic Book Day, the headlining act of Red 5 Comics, and the indy answer to Hellboy.  And Dr. Dinosaur is the best thing about Atomic Robo besides Atomic Robo himself.  I missed this whole arc last year, so once again I have to give thanks to Bull Moose's new trend of importing random back issues into its dying comics spinning rack.  Savage Sword opens in a pretty bleak scenario, with Robo having fallen out of public favor thanks to a trumped-up scandal, which adds valuable emotional context to his adventures.  By the time Dr. Dinosaur shows up late in the issue, it gives the story an unexpected twist, which only an Atomic Robo comic could do with the spoiler in the name of the mini-series.  Dr. Dinosaur is a character who breaks the fourth wall all over his dialogue ("It was I!  Behold, the dramatic reveal!"), just a fun character who knocks all pretension out of what comics are supposed to be.  This is exactly what fans are talking about when they ask for comics that younger readers can enjoy without be condescended to and not featuring some previously-established-in-another-medium properties.  That being said, how about an Atomic Robo cartoon?  A live action Robo might even be better!

Black Science #3 (Image)

via Image Comics

From 2014.

Having finally cracked the Rick Remender egg in the pages of his Captain America comics, I've become more interested in exploring his other work.  Black Science is a little like Sliders if it were done in the Fringe manner, a team of scientists who are able to cross between dimensions.  It's pretty interesting stuff, and once again defies my previous impressions of Remender's work.

Green Arrow #26 (DC)

via IGN

From 2013.

"The Outsiders War" is an arc I wanted to have a look at all year.  It's another instance of DC repackaging a concept for the New 52 era.  In other words, this is not the Outsiders as you remember it.  This is a new vision that is tied directly into Green Arrow's mythology, concerning that all-important origin on the island (in a lot of ways, DC has finally realized that Oliver Queen has all along been a kind of Lost figure).  The Outsiders this time are a whole network of clans that are like a human version of the spectrum of power rings introduced by Geoff Johns in Green Lantern.  In the past it's been difficult to define what exactly makes Green Arrow special, and sometimes that answer has been making him a modern Robin Hood, and sometimes a very political, liberal figure, and even sometimes, his unique relationship with Black Canary.  Finally, it seems, they've hit the nail on the head.  A couple years into his New 52 tenure and several creative teams later, the archer is being handled by Jeff Lemire during this arc, and this is exactly what the comic needed to be as relevant as the popular Arrow TV series (the emphasis on the island is the greatest link between them).  Great, great stuff.  I will have to read the whole story at some point.

Imagine Agents #3 (Boom!)

via the Geek Girl Project

From 2013.

I thought this looked pretty interesting, but it kind of degenerated into gibberish and so I guess I was wrong.  It happens.

Katana #9 (DC)

via DC Wikia

From 2013.

Along with Vibe this was one of the risky simultaneous launches along with Justice League of America last year, and it's another series I've long wanted to have a look at.  It's very similar to Lemire's Green Arrow, actually.  Unfortunately, there was only one more issue left in the series at this point.

Saga #18 (Image)

via Image Comics

From 2014.

Okay, seriously, Fiona Staples does the best covers ever.  Just look at that!  Oh, and by the way, that's Lying Cat, who's able to tell when you're lying (as you may or may not have guessed).  Saga is packed with these seemingly simplistic characters who are nonetheless dynamic figures, and always shifting around the story, which this most recent Bull Moose Bargains selection from the series helps fill in a few more of those gaps that cropped up from my erratic experience with Saga last year.  There's a great moment in which Marko tricks Alana into flying, forced to happen thanks to Marko's reunion with Gwendolyn, who's trying save The Will, while Prince Robot IV is walking around desperately needing a reboot.  Is this also The Brand's first appearance?  The Brand is The Will's sister.  A seriously awesome series.

Swamp Thing #26 (DC)

via Pick of the Brown Bag

From 2013.

I wish I had been reading Charles Soule's Swamp Thing all along.  It's the DC commitment he'll be finishing out next year before his exclusive contract with Marvel officially kicks in, and his work in the series has been seriously good, another case of a DC property with a mythology a creator has been able to lucratively crack.  Much of what Soule has done has also been undermined by fans, though, because of the tie-ins the series has had with other comics in the post-Vertigo line.  Batshit insane logic.  Anyway, Alec Holland is no longer the avatar of the Green, which is to say he's no longer Swamp Thing.  His role has been usurped by Seeder.  There's a great sequence involving Animal Man, too (part of that post-Vertigo line).  After the places Alan Moore took Swamp Thing and Grant Morrison took Animal Man, it seemed impossible to do relevant material with either character again that had nothing to do with that material.  Proven wrong.

Thumbprint #2 (IDW)

via comiXology

From 2013.

Joe Hill, in case you didn't know, is Stephen King's kid.  He's also likely the reason King finally started actively dabbling in comics.  Until Hill came along with Locke & Key in 2008, King's efforts were few and far between, and suddenly there were adaptations of The Stand and the Dark Tower series, the American Vampire stint (if you want to be technical, King started these efforts a year prior to Locke & Key's launch, but c'mon), and various other projects.  This issue marks the first time I've read Hill, though he certainly seems to have established a reputable career all his own, in case there was any such fear on my part.  Like his old man, some of Hill's comics are not by Hill himself, but are adaptions of his prose material.  Thumbprint is one of those.  It concerns a hardcase of a woman who was a soldier and now an investigator.  I like this particular bit of narrative: 

"Everyone has a story, a secret.  That's what I want...the secrets.  Most humans are terrible at keeping secrets.  We're storytelling animals.  It hurts to keep things inside and feels good to spill.  The act of confession feels as right as breathing and as good as a kiss.  If you can use your voice to tell your story, you must be alive.  Only dead men are comfortable with silence."

Is there some King in Hill's literary voice?  You bet.  But I like what I've seen...

Trillium #5 (Vertigo)

via Weekly Comic Book Review

From 2013.

Lemire is a heck of a talent, one I've started appreciating in 2014, thank goodness, and Trillium was his latest creator-owned opus that concluded earlier in the year.  The nifty yet tricky first issue I've caught recently, the flip book that introduced the parallel narratives of the story, was adapted to even trickier heights in later issues, it seems, a flip book on every page.  Helpfully, there's always instructions or at least an indication as to which side to read first, and of course it's not always the one you expect it to be.  Maybe not the best way to read Trillium, though, in fits and starts.  I'll have to catch up on this one later, too...

The Unwritten: Apocalypse #1 (Vertigo)

via Yuko Art

From 2014.

Previously I may have suggested that Vertigo dumped The Unwritten at the worst possible moment, after its Fables crossover, just at the moment that readers (possibly including me) might have finally started paying attention.  But it was relaunched, as it turned out, with a concluding mini-series.  And.  Holy.  Crap.  Mike Carey knocked this first issue out of the park.  It's the kind of material I've been expecting from The Sandman Overture, just a creator completely letting loose with full-on narrative fantasy potential.  Instantly became one of my favorite comic book memories of 2014.  And now I'll have to read the rest of Unwritten...