Atoll Comics Round 18

Or changes to my Top-Ten comics

Due to my spouse seeing how much I spend on comics and an urge to buy better comics, I have decided to be super-selective about which superhero comics I read. Harnessing the Awesome Power of Maths, I have determined that I can afford to read 10 ongoing titles. So I get to read 10, and only 10, titles published by either Marvel or DC as well as one trade paperback a week of my choosing.

A complication of this is that I am forced to drop an on-going title if I want to try reading a new on-going title, an act of very tough love. Being financially responsible is the worst.

I will be adding Secret Six and dropping Wonder Woman.

Why Secret Six: One of my all-time favourite comics was the last volume of Secret Six. It featured a loveable group of despicable rogues having adventures that were at once bonkers fun and deeply disturbing. It was hilarious and complex, featuring people who were obviously crazy and willing to do terrible things, but also loyal and loving and capable of always surprising acts of nobility. It was kind of perfect. This new series of Secret Six has the same writer as the previous iteration, namely Gail Simone, so I'm really hoping it catches some of the same tone and magic. After the first issue, I am encouraged, but it's hard to judge. The cast of this volume of Secret Six is largely new, and the plot of the first issue is a throwing together of strangers in a bad situation machine, so the character work and relationships that drove the previous iteration haven't really developed yet. There is also, I think, some growing pains associated with a new creative team learning how to work together with new characters. But I think I can see the foundation of the comic I want to read here and a collaboration that will be pretty amazing. I'm willing to give it a chance to become the Secret Six I so desperately want. 

Why not Wonder Woman: Because it's over. I mean, Wonder Woman is not literally ending, but the creative team that has steered and defined the character for the last three years has finished their story and are moving on to new projects. Their idiosyncratic take on the character, one which leans heavily into a quirky remixed Greek mythology, has been really fresh and endlessly fun to read. I understand why diehard Wonder Woman fans may not have liked it or found aspects of the run problematic, but as someone who always had a hard time engaging with Wonder Woman I found it a really great comic. Wonder Woman has also been, with Azzarello, Chiang, Akins, and Wilson one of DCs best made comics and just about the only title where an ambitious, auteur driven run has reached its organic ending. This comic was great and complete and I'm really, really happy I read it. Which I think makes this a great jumping off point: with a dubious incoming creative team and a satisfying and complete story, I think it's time to walk away from Wonder Woman and savour the fun I had.

Previously:

Atoll Comics Round 17: Batgirl in and Batman out

Atoll Comics Round 16: Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier in and Rocket Raccoon out

Atoll Comics Round 15: Rocket Raccoon in and Moon Knight out

Atoll Comics Round 14: Secret Avengers in and Avengers Assemble Out

Atoll Comics Round 13: Moon Knight in and Avengers out

Atoll Comics Round 12: She Hulk in and FF out

Atoll Comics Round 11: Ms. Marvel in and Young Avengers out

Atoll Comics Round 10: Black Widow in and The Movement out

Atoll Comics Round 9: The Movement in and The Indestructible Hulk out

Atoll Comics Round 8: The Indestructible Hulk and FF in and Uncanny Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 7: Young Avengers in and Winter Solider out
Atoll Comics Round 6: Either The Indestructible Hulk or FF in and Batwoman out
Atoll Comics Round 5: Avengers in and Fantastic Four/FF out
Atoll Comics Round 4: Avengers Assemble in and The Invincible Ironman out
Atoll Comics Round 3: Uncanny Avengers in and Ultimate Spider-Man out
Atoll Comics Round 2: Hawkeye in and The Flash out
Atoll Comics Round 1: Captain Marvel in and Thunderbots/Dark Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 0: The originals

So Jenn Read Wonder Woman: Blood

A review of Wonder Woman Volume 1

Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, Tony Akins, Matt Wilson, and Jared K Fletcher; DC Comics

Blood is the first collected trade of DC’s New 52 Wonder Woman run, a fairly easy jumping on point to get a taste for a hero I’ve never read before. We open with a young woman, Zola, being pursued by mystery assailants. Hermes comes to her aid, and it’s revealed that she’s pregnant with Zeus’ child. She ends up in Diana’s care, and the story grows around the familiar relationships of Greek Gods. Zeus has disappeared, Hera is upset about his many infidelities, and there’s a power vacuum on Olympus to be filled. Diana takes Zola and Hermes to Paradise Island and the protection of her family of Amazonian sisters, where she must also address newfound family history with her mother, Hippolyta, and what ramifications this information may have on Olympus.  Azzarello makes a smart choice grounding the story in Greek myth –it guarantees some familiarity with the characters Diana interacts with, freeing the story from extensive exposition and allowing the action to begin quickly. The spectacular art only adds to the experience—I love Cliff Chiang’s interpretation of Diana and her sisters – strong, but still beautiful and feminine. Diana looks like she could crush a man with her thighs, in the absolute best way. The story is sufficiently gory, with some dark moments and unexpected twists. As a character, Diana is someone I want to follow further—and I will absolutely be reading Volume 2.

Word Count: 236

Post by Jennifer DePrey

Wondering About Wonder Woman: First Born Special

Or some great comics in The First Born-Wonder Woman Special 
Brian Azzarello, Aco, Matt Wilson, and Jared K Fletcher; DC Comics

I have really been enjoying Wonder Woman. I think Brian Azzarello's take on Wonder Woman as more of a mythical figure and less of a straightforward superhero is interesting, and the melodrama generated by the infighting and family dynamics of the Greek Parthenon provides a relatable emotional core. And then there is the art of series main artist Cliff Chiang who is just a fantastic artist: his distinctive style and endlessly fascinating character designs are really reason enough to read this comic. Add to this the colouring of Matt Wilson, who has created this really fascinating, distinct palette that unifies the series between artists and adds so much visual interest to the book. Wonder Woman is easily one of the most consistently good looking and interesting comics in my reading list.

The First Born special, written by Brian Azzarello and featuring art by Aco and Matt Wilson is by far the best of the Villian Month tie-in comics I read. It tells the backstory of The First Born, a fairly enigmatic new villain, in what really feels like the next chapter of the ongoing Wonder Woman story. Unlike most of the Villain Month books, which largely featured stories unrelated to the ongoing stories with characters we either haven't seen in the nuDCU or versions of characters that depart from their nuDCU versions, this comic felt like it existed for a reason. Which, as a budget conscious comics reader, I really appreciated.

It is also really great comics with a few pretty great features worth unpacking.

(Just as an aside, I feel like pointing out that most of the Villians Month comics felt like such a rip-off. I bought most of them solely because 1: my comic shop which cannot return them grabbed them for my pull box so I felt obligated to buy them, and 2: all of the order limit nonsense for the 3D covers which made me doubley grateful and indebted to my shop. My comic shop ordered them because they were billed as part of Batman or Wonder Woman and therefore assumed they would relate to the series and that I would want these books. Basically DC screwed both of us into buying a bunch of extra comics to inflate their sales, and frankly I am pretty unhappy about it. (They weren't necessarily bad comics, just unnecessary.) The WORST part of reading a DC comic these days is all of its publisher level nonsense. It's a sign of just how much I  enjoy those few DC books I read, given how much of an ordeal DC comics makes reading their books.)

(Alright, back to what I like.)

This post will contain some light *SPOILERS* for the First Born Special, most of which should be obvious from the overall shape of the Wonder Woman comic series. That said, you ought to read the comic first.

The First Born special makes use of a bunch of deceptively simple, but really effective page layouts. This page is probably my favourite from the issue, because it is awesome but also because it's a great example of using the carriage return from top-right to bottom-left to enhance the effects of the page. 

The small panel in the top left is where we enter the page. Our vision is drawn down to the second narration box and then on to the mouth of the fire breathing dragon-monster thing. From there we progress to the next text caption and the First Born perching, nude, on the top of the stone column. (This narration caption, incidentally overlaps with the next panel, acting as a temporal bridge to the next panel, which is pretty cool.) This brings us to the top right hand panel that depicts the First Born diving into the dragon's mouth, a motion that is continued rapidly down this parallel through the next three panels. We see the First Born dive, then swing our eyes along the path of his dive, to see the dragon swallow him, slowing our path on the next narration caption to lengthen the dramatic beat of the Dragon holding the First Born in its mouth, before we carry on to the fiery explosion in the bottom left panel of the page. We then move our vision up and to the right, again along the path of motion, to see the First Born burst out of the Dragons mouth and final narration caption. This panel transition works doubley well because the rapid, panel framed, cross page parallel works to corral our vision so that the final panel explodes into our focus in a dramatic reveal. This is a great page that showcases some of the very cool things that can be done in the carriage return. 

Another of the nifty comics techniques on display in the First Born is the use of colours. 

The First Born's scenes, particularly those that depict martial triumph are done with a heavy red background. Red, a colour of blood and fire and passion and violence. It emphasizes the First Born as a dangerous and powerful dude through colour alone.

Meanwhile, scenes of the Olympian gods, particularly Zeus, are done in bright, firece blues. The kind of bright blue that is of electricity and the sky. The kind of blue that comes from the hottest and most exotic flames. It emphasizes the power and otherworldly nature of the Olympian gods.

The blue/red contrast also beautifully sets up the emotional conflict of the First Born versus the Olympians. The colours are dramatically opposed, they cannot coexist peacefully. The colours also, I think, establish how much greater the electric blue power of Zeus is when compared to the red, terrestrial power of the First Born. It's a really smart, really great use of colour.

So, there you have it, the First Born special is a great comic in a great series.

Atoll Comics

My Ten On-going Titles

Due to poverty and an urge to buy better comics, I have decided to be super-selective about which superhero comics I read. Harnessing the Awesome Power of Maths, I have determined that I can afford to read 10 ongoing titles. So I get to read 10, and only 10, titles published by either Marvel or DC as well as one trade paperback a week of my choosing.

The following are, in no particular order, the ten survivors:

Batman: I love me some Batman. For my money, Batman is one of the most interesting and well developed characters in cape comics and as a result I will almost certainly always read at least one Batman book. Batman, by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, is easily the best Batman title included in DC’s new 52 launch (since the other Batman titles are nigh unreadable). It is also really good comics, with solid and engaging writing, a compelling plot, and a consistent and enjoyable visual style (superhero-cartoonishness coupled with a heavily shadowed palette). Basically this one is on the list because it’s a Batman book with a fantastic creative team. It’s a no brainer.

Wonder Woman: When I set about cutting my comics consumption down to ten titles, I did not expect Wonder Woman to be among them. Wonder Woman, as a character, often feels kind of contrived to me… she is a lady superhero made to occupy a niche for a lady superhero¹. She has an iconic look, and a healthy place in the pop-culture zeitgeist, but often seems to lack a complete sense of person. Even when she has been written properly as a person, there is generally this weirdly disjointed attempt to get her to live in the DC superhero universe. I’ve always found it distracting. But the new Wonder Woman book, written by Brian Azzarello and drawn mainly by Cliff Chiang, is really good. I think the key to my enjoyment of the book is that they create this remixed greek mythological world, where the concept of a super powered Amazonian princess feels organic instead of an excuse to have a female character. Add to this smart writing and great artwork and Wonder Woman is a book in my top ten.

The Flash: This is a really pretty book. Of the books DC is currently offering, I think Flash could make a case for best looking: beautiful pencils, colours that pop, and a sense of design/layout that amplifies the story and really sells the Flash’s speed powers (which strikes me as a challenging thing to do). This all makes sense since the writers of Flash, Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, are the penciller and colourist respectively. The actual writing is fine too (sort of based on the idea of things that challenge a guy who can move really quickly with a veneer of sci-fi) but this takes backseat to the beautiful artwork. This book makes the list for the art.

Batwoman: If Flash isn’t the best looking book at DC, I’d wager Batwoman is. J H Williams III is an artistic juggernaut who pretty much has free artistic rein on the book (he co-scripts it with W. Hademan Blackman as well as pencils every second arch). When he is drawing the book it’s like nothing else: elaborate layouts, different artistic styles and motifs for different characters and situations, and brilliant visual storytelling. It’s breathtaking. That said, the writing isn’t quite at the same level as the art and can be confusing and a bit tone deaf at times.² Still, worth it just for the sweet sweet artwork.

Daredevil: This might be the cleverest book published by Marvel or DC. From the way blindness is constantly integrated into the plot (without ever seeming contrived), to the dialogue and humour, to the visual design and aesthetic of the book…. It’s just clever. And fun while still being challenging and maintaining a sense of danger and consequences.  Writer Mark Waid and main artist³ Paolo Rivera are just churning out a superlative comic. If you like superhero comics this one is pretty much a must.

The Invincible Ironman: Tony Stark is a pretty compelling dude. He is simultaneously gifted and deeply flawed; a normal human and a prosthetically enhanced superhero; and a genuinely good person who is kind of a dick. In Invincible Ironman you get a fully realized Tony Stark trying to invent a better world in the face of financial ruin, organized opposition, and his own inherent weaknesses. It’s quintessentially what I want from an Ironman comic. It also doesn’t hurt that the thematic core of Ironman as a character is about relating to technology which is pretty central to modern life. I’m a huge fan of the book’s writer Matt Fraction who just finds the right narrative tone for this book and Tony Stark (and genrally just kills it). Add to that a consistent art team of Salvador Larroca and Frank D’Armata, who, despite some distracting ticks⁴, render the hell out of fighting robot suits and technology. Great character, great story, great creators.

Winter Soldier: This one is a case of creative consistency. Winter soldier, aka Bucky Barnes, aka temporary-replacement-Captain America, has had a story arch in progress since I started reading comics again as an adult. I’m pretty invested in the character and the events surrounding him (he is clandestinely trying to stop the sins of his past from starting a world war) and since Captain America is currently fighting dream-Hydra (or something) this book also fills my Captain America fix (which is the book it spun out of).⁵ Add to this the very talented creative team of writer Ed Brubaker (who has been writing this character for basically a decade), penciller Butch Guice, and colourist Bettie Breitweiser  you get this terrific (and consistent!) noir espionage thriller as viewed through a snowstorm of whitenoise in a comic book universe… which is pretty damn cool.

Thunderbolts: This is a fun book with great characters. Basically, it’s the misadventures and character studies of old school thunderbolts and a lovable collection of D-list Marvel. I once worried that T-bolts would be a super-rapey-angst book with its team-of-villains premise. However, while the title villains occasionally do legitimately awful things, the book is charming, funny and oddly cute. Jeff Parker and Kevin Walker do a great job writing and drawing (respectively). Basically, Thunderbolts is a great book that is light and fun, but with enough edge to stay engaging.

Fantastic Four/FF: Fantastic Four/FF is the best Science Fiction book being published by the Big Two.⁶ While it has all of the superheroics and family-centric dynamics that have always been integral to the Fantastic Four, under writer Jonathon Hickman it has also become a very classic sci-fi book. In amongst the stories of punching and Earth-Shattering-Dangers there are tales of a man who lives millennia, a monster who is a man for only one day a year, an interdimensional council of world builders, alien cultures, lost civilizations, and time travel. And all of this is built into a complex and engaging central plotline that keeps the whole thing moving. It’s the best of the fantastic four and the best of the pulp Science Fiction that spawned them.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Spider-Man is another character that has a special nostalgia-powered niche in my heart. It’ll be a sad day when I can’t find a Spider-Man book worth reading. Luckily, Ultimate Spider-Man is a solid title: with over 100 issues written by the same writer (Brian Michael Bendis) and drawn by only a handful of excellent artists⁷ (with simpatico styles) it is both very good and shockingly consistent. Consistent to the point that a change in title character (they killed off Peter Parker, and replaced him with new Spider-Man Miles Morales) has done nothing to damper my enthusiasm for the book. So Ultimate Spider-Man makes my list for being the best ongoing Spider-Man title.⁸

1: I like female characters in my comics, and wish there were more good ones. I also which there were more good people of colour and queer characters in comics. The issue is that many of these characters seem to exist due to editorial mandates or a perceived need for such characters (which there is!) without a concurrent commitment to making these characters complete people. Sort of a “look a super lady” level characterization, instead of “hey check out this awesome character, who happens to be a lady”. I think it’s a shame this is the level of portrayal we generally get: Carol Danvers often gets pigeon-holed as a generic female avenger, instead of the awesome character with a great back story and character beats (fighter jet pilot gets super powers from aliens, has issues with alcohol and control, has a reason to not be down with mutants… etc) we would have if she were a dude. It’s like in real life: my female friends aren’t my friends because they are female, but because they are great people. This is what should be reflected in comics.

2: There was a sequence that had a liaison between the protagonist and her love interest rendered in soft artistic tones alternating with the violent stabbing of a supporting female character that had sexual overtones. It was an uncomfortable choice? Maybe purposefully so, but it was way too rapey for my tastes.

3: I say “main” artist since there is a lot of rotation on this book. While Paolo Rivera has done the most issues, a pretty talented bunch including Marcos Martin and Chris Samnee have also filled in. To a certain extent it’s great: everyone on the book is super-talented. But I like consistent visual styles in books… and I don’t think artists are interchangeable picture machines. It devalues the artist and can hurt the tone of the book. It can also kill my interest in a book… a recent Mighty Thor arch had a fill in artist for the final issue and it just wasn’t very good and destroyed what should have been a rewarding pay off. Rotating artists to increase publication speed also makes comics budgeting hard to do and may eventually force me to cut further titles.

4: Human faces are often obviously celebrity photoreferenced, and by my count both Reed Richards and Captain America both have had cases of Brad-Pitt-face during this book…

5: Captain America may not be a main character in the book, but as an unseen participant his influence is everywhere. I feel Captain America (Steve Rogers) works best as an inspiration engine, and the niftiest thing about him as a character is his ability to affect other characters. Winter Soldier is essentially his golden age protégé trying to live up to the ideals of Cap (who is in turn a kind of personification of “American” ideals…) I think it’s a niftier dynamic than following the adventures of Steve Rogers himself.

6: Calling Fantastic Four and FF one book is kind of a copout, but honestly the books are so intertwined that reading only one of the two titles would be a disservice. If you read one, both are pretty much mandatory. Also: it gives me an excuse to read an extra comic every month.

7: In about ten years of Ultimate Spider-Man comics the only artists have been: Mark Bagley, Stuart Immonen, David Lafuente, Sara Pitchelli, and now David Marquez.

8: I miss Brand New Day guys, I really do. Those were quintessential Spider-Man stories, light on continuity, that were hard-hitting and significant. There was a proper supporting cast of people I gave half a damn about and new characters that were interesting. Amazing Spider-Man, under Dan Slott, is not a comic book for me: for one thing it’s heavy on trying to reclaim 90’s Spider-Man continuity which, as a dude who didn’t read comics in the 90’s, is pretty frustrating.⁹

9: Who is the Spider Queen? Why do I care about this? Why is there a furry green geneticist? Is he related to Agent Brand? Who is this fan service for?!