Sunday, October 27, 2019

Watching the Walmart Giants 3 "October 2019"

Now, the title of this feature is obviously becoming an anachronism (and it was from the moment I decided on it), since these giants are going to begin appearing in the direct market (comic book shops), but I will continue to pick them up at Walmart.  October's releases were late in my local store, and I guess the release schedule has changed, with apparently a bimonthly scheduled in effect, which means three titles I didn't see last month finally appeared this month, and the final installment of Superman Giant, and King & Kubert's arc.

So here's what I'm talking about:

Aquaman Giant #1
  • Original story from Steve Orlando & Daniel Sampere featuring Aquaman battling Black Manta.  Somewhat standard material here, though Orlando introduces the "tether of Amphitrite," and possibly the concept of the mermazons, which alone was worth reading.
  • Original story from Marv Wolfman & Pop Mhan featuring Aquaman battling an organization called Scorpio (unrelated to the pseudo Bond villain from The Simpsons, probably, and thus featuring far fewer hammocks).
  • Prologue to "Throne of Atlantis" from Aquaman #14 by Geoff Johns.
  • Mera: Queen of Atlantis #1.
  • Teen Titans #14, featuring the new Aqualad.
DC Super Hero Girls Giant #1
  • Original story from Amanda Deibert & Erich Owen.
  • Original story from Amy Wolfram & Agnes Garbowska.
  • Excerpts from Hits and Myths, Summer Olympus, and Past Times at Super Hero High.
I originally wasn't going to get this one, but I figured I could later give it to my niece. 

Superman Giant #16
  • "Up in the Sky, Part 12" from Tom King and Andy Kubert, the conclusion, featuring Superman and the little girl on their eventual journey home, depicted as a conversation they have along the way.  It may not be the flashiest installment of the epic tale (which, as I think I've emphasized previously, has become another of King's many, many highlights for me), but it's a nice way to ground the Man of Steel, as the story has done all along, in his more human qualities, even as he's constantly asked to use his superhuman skills.  This is a far trickier task than it seems, and King has just provided a master class.
  • Superman/Batman #50, featuring the improbably team-up of Jor-El and Thomas Wayne (it works, although I wish more of the story focused on them and less on the present-day and extraneous Justice League activities).
  • A Superboy tale from Superman80-Page Giant 2011.
  • The Terrifics Annual #1, featauring a Tom Strong tale but more importantly a Java flashback written by Mark Russell.  You may remember me talking about Russell's work in the September giants.  He seems to have effortlessly refuted me in advance, because this one's a wonderful narrative that somewhat knowingly takes a note from Russell's own Flintstones but imbues real poignancy in its observations.  It's the best thing I've read from him, personally, since my original impressions of him in Prez
This was also the final issue. 

Teen Titans Go! Giant #1
  • Original story from Sholly Fish & Marcelo DiChiara featuring Tamaranian hiccups.
  • Original story from Ivan Cohen & Sarah Leuver.
  • Reprints from Teen Titans Go! and Teen Titans Go! Digital, featuring far more art from Jorge Corona (whom I previously encountered in the pages of We Are Robin) than I expected.

2 comments:

  1. Now that they've finished that Superman story hopefully they'll put it in a separate volume so I can buy it on sale someday.

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    Replies
    1. They are. There's a standalone reprint miniseries currently being published, and that'll be collected later. I'm definitely gonna get that.

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