Comics Picks For 19.02.2014

Another very slow week, mostly due to traveling again. And now I’m in India for a cousin’s wedding, so I have big doubts that I will be able to read all that much in the next two weeks at least. Its certainly going to be quite a challenge.

Still, there were some really good entries this week, and I’d recommend almost all of them, barring like two of the issues. Definitely check out Kings Watch #1 if not anything else. More Phantom goodness? Hell yes, please!

Anyway, here’s another edition of this new feature. Full reading list, as always, is available here and all my comics reviews are available here.

Inhumanity: Superior Spider-Man #1 (Comics Review)

In 2012 and, by extension, 2013 we had the greatest surprise in comics in recent years. Or so I believe. Doctor Otto Octavious essentially killed Peter Parker and transferred his consciousness to his body. Now, for more than a year, the “new” Peter Parker has been the Superior Spider-Man, marking a new age in comics where a villain became a hero in an attempt to genuinely do some good. I’ve certainly never read a story like this. Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman’s Superior Spider-Man Volume 1 proved to be an eye-opener in many ways for me, and through all his appearances in other comics, I’ve definitely come to enjoy Superior Spider-Man.

With Marvel’s latest event, Inhumanity, things are gearing up for the launch of the event’s premier series Inhumans in April and in the lead-up we are getting several titles each month which lay down the groundwork. Inhumanity: Superior Spider-Man #1 is one such title that, while it has only a passing connection to the event for now, helps to flesh out the ordinary lives of New Yorkers as they deal with the fallout of the Infinity event and the Terrigen Mists causing widespread mutations all over the world. One of my favourite writers by far, Christos Gage tells a really personal story in this issue and he is assisted most handsomely by Stephanie Hans who turns out one of the most gorgeous comics I’ve seen in a long time.

Rocket Girl #2-3 (Comics Review)

Part of Image Comics’ 2031 fall line-up, Rocket Girl debuted in October and quickly become quite a favourite. A mix of a near-future setting where there are teen cops, a fun protagonist with a really fun attitude and personality who is one of those teen cops, time travel into the past, and overall some really good writing and art, Rocket Girl was definitely among my favourite reads of the month. All the elements put together by writer Brandon Montclare and artist Amy Reeder really gelled as a whole for the debut issue and I hoped that the next two issues would hold up to that.

Which they do. Rocket Girl #2 and #3 came out soon after, in November and then December, and they have both been as good as the first, at the least. There’s been a slight bit of dodginess with the script, but nothing too severe and not enough for me to not enjoy the story at all as it turns out. What matters most here is that both these issues have continued to do some really fun things with the characters and the setting, and there have been surprises galore to keep me hooked on for the rest of it.

Comics Picks of The Week 04.12.2013

Just like the week prior, this past week was really busy as well. I read two graphic novels again, Superman: The Man of Steel Volume 1 and Marvel’s Infinity, and both of them proved to be quite excellent and met my expectations quite nicely. However, it wasn’t all as good as I would have preferred since there were too many comics that came out last week which I didn’t get to read. Which is weird, considering that this is essentially a 5-week month and the books should be spread out over that much time, what with the extra week thrown in.

Still, I’m in a pretty good place I think, more so since with my Advent Calendar, I’m motivated to read more graphic novels and review more comics in general. Which is always a plus. And today is another new comics day, with all that entails, so this new week is looking very promising right now.

In the meantime, here’s another edition of this new feature. Full reading list, as always, is available here and all my comics reviews are available here.

Advent Review #7: Painkiller Jane #2 (Comics Review)

There are a lot of new series that I’ve started on this year, to varying degrees of entertainment, and I have to say that a very small handful of those have been as good as Jimmy Palmiotti’s Painkiller Jane, a series featuring a former cop named Jane Vasco who was created by Jimmy himself back in the 90s and has even been adapted for television. I read the first issue of the new series last month and I was quite impressed with it. It was an unrestrained bag of fun and entertainment, and my expectations from the second issue were high in that respect.

And the second issue does deliver, as it turns out. There are a lot of things that happened in the first issue, which featured a ton of action all throughout, and while the second issue is a bit light on that front, it is by no means any less impactful. Jimmy explores both Jane and Saudi heiress Sabina here and its a narrative touch that I really liked. There’s a lot of chemistry between the two of them and its great to see that addressed.

Painkiller Jane #1 by Jimmy Palmiotti (Comics Review)

I remember watching the Kristanna Loken-starrer Painkiller Jane back in my college days and thinking, this is pretty good. I followed the show almost religiously for all of its first season, the only season it got before it ended. It was a superhero show that wasn’t typically superhero-ish. An everyday character with some not-so-everyday powers just doing what is right and bringing criminals to justice. I loved it back then.

And a few weeks ago, Jimmy Palmiotti announced that he was going to be writing a new mini-series of comics based on the character. That was when I found out that he had created this character in the first place, way back in the 90s with Joe Quesada. And I got all excited for this first issue, which launched this last Wednesday. Its been a long wait for this to hit the stands, but I think its been pretty well worth it because I enjoyed the first issue, and I’m definitely on board for more.

NANP: Matters Dickensian

Lyndsay Faye, today’s guest on Names: A New Perspective, is another author that I’ve been waiting to read for quite a while now. If not for Mount Arcstoberead, I could get to it right now! The premise of her novel The Gods of Gotham is quite intriguing: 1845 New York, newly formed NYPD, murders, the worst slums of the city. Very exciting stuff. Police procedural type fiction isn’t typically my kind of reading, but as with all such cases, she comes highly recommended from the blogosphere. Given such a… contemporary historical setting for the novel, Lyndsay’s approach to names is just as fascinating as from any writer of SFF fiction.