Make the beats go harder

Wow, I have read a shitload of comics this past week. Last week, an eBay order containing all seven volumes of The Invisibles arrived, which I devoured over Tuesday through Thursday. I have no idea what I could possibly say about that work that hasn't already been said. I'll do some reading this week, think on it and see if anything comes up.

This weekend was spent visiting home in London, which meant a trip to the shop on Friday. Walked away with 20-someodd singles and a trio of trades. So, let's begin with some of the comics:

Midnighter #12

Um, wow, way to take an interesting storyline and waste an issue on boring boringness. Instead of more on Midnighter's spooky hometown, he fights something and there's a lot of posturing about how metahumans are bad. They really have nothing new to say with these characters, do they? They get the Authority to take over America, realise "Oh no, we have no idea how to make this work" and immediately dismantle that. They do a relaunch of titles and nothing exciting happens. Like Ennis' issues, Giffen's aren't bad per se, they're just not anything amazing. Goddamn, Wildstorm is just a reminder of all that wasted potential, isn't it?

JLA/Hitman #2

Ennis sure can write superheroes when he wants to. In the concluding half of this crossover series, Tommy solves the problem and saves the JLA--with methods they don't condone. What I find most interesting is how Clark Kent explains what happened and that you can tell he really struggles with judging Tommy simply because he was a killer. He recognises that maybe there's more to people than looking at them in such superficial ways. And, yes, judging Tommy here simply based on the fact that he is willing to kill is superficial. The JLA was powerless, Batman was taken over by an alien and all that stood between them and getting nuked were Tommy's guns. He did what he had to and while Batman and the others may be quick to judge, Superman can't do that, because he knows that Tommy had to make the tough call--and while others would have acted differently, it was just Tommy there. A very mature and nuanced portrayal of Superman--which is weird, because the rest of the JLA is pretty flat (except for maybe Green Lantern).

Infinity Inc. #2

As I said with the first issue, I wish Milligan were given the freedom to run with the interesting idea of the book (namely, the psychological damage done to these people who were famous superheroes one day and powerless nobodies the next) without forcing in this utterly boring supervillain plot. Fucking genre conventions can be a pain sometimes. I'm still waiting for someone to point out how Steel was given powers by Luthor like them, but is the same as he always was, basically--especially as it's suggested that maybe the Everyman process itself fucked up their heads. But, then again, maybe he isn't fine. Who knows.

Wolverine #56, 58

I read a lot of good stuff about Wolverine #56, a self-contained issue written by Jason Aaron with art by Howard Chaykin that focuses on a man whose job it is to shoot a guy trapped in a pit. Turns out the guy is Logan, who then turns it all around on the guy and we see just how sad and pathetic his life is. It's a solid issue.

Issue 58, on the other hand, is pretty damn shitty. Marc Guggenheim pretty much fucks up Wolverine's healing factor with some bullshit about him not dying because while his body heals, his soul goes off and fights the angel of death--and wins everytime except for this one, which is why Wolverine is braindead. Um. Yeah. What really fucks it up is how half the issue is Dr. Strange messing with Tony Stark--and then the other half is Strange just telling us all of this information. It comes off forced and breaks the whole "show, don't tell" rule. Big time. Wow. Bad, bad comic.

Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #24

What the fuck happened in this issue? I know nothing actually happened, but is it just me or was that nothing really fucking confusing? What the fuck?

Omega the Unknown #1

When this came out a couple of weeks back, I think nearly every blog I read had a review or two of it up. And all of them said basically the same thing: cool art, quirky writing, where will it go?, let's wait and see, etc., etc., etc. I have nothing new to add to my fellow bloggers' opinons.

Tomorrow: more comics. Yay.