Comic Picks By The Glick

It turns out that the third volume of “Rat Queens” did represent the beginning of the end for that series.  Just not in the way that I thought it would.  While issue #16 came out a couple weeks ago, word came out from artist Tess Fowler a couple weeks ago that she was being pushed out of the series to make way for the return of co-creator/original artist Roc Upchurch.  This is after he departed the book amidst charges of domestic abuse and Fowler was apparently told by co-creator/writer Kurtis J. Wiebe that Upchurch would not be returning to the series.  It’s an ugly situation that Fowler is taking in stride and coming out looking like a champ through the good vibes she’s been maintaining through her Twitter posts on the matter and refusal to turn this into a crusade/vendetta against the “Rat Queens” creators.  As for the series itself, it was already on hiatus and Wiebe has said that he’s not sure what the future holds for the series -- if there even is one -- as he needs to find his voice for the series again.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Wiebe leaves the series behind altogether.  He’s got a new series, “Bounty,” lined up over at Dark Horse and has shown himself to be a fairly prolific man of ideas with all of the other series he has done through Image.  “Rat Queens” was his biggest success, but this new controversy has sadly turned it radioactive with an unknown half-life.

Fifteen volumes in and still more on the way.  Except I'm now done with this once-great series.

Well, vol. 7 really left me feeling that this series had gone off the rails with its focus on Madarame’s Harem.  Like all good(?) harem stories, it had several of the series’ female characters positioned as romantic interests for the man but precious little explanation as to why they felt that way.  This is even more problematic for a series like “Genshiken” which at least tries to be grounded in realistic human emotions and situations.  Yet even when I was about to resign myself to following through with this series because I had bought the previous seven volumes, vol. 8 comes along and offers me hope that it might stick the landing in the end after all.  This may seem like the ramblings of a junkie who’s trying to chase one last high, but I swear there’s actually some decent stuff in the latter half of this volume!

Two volumes in and I’m not feeling as nearly involved as I should be for what’s effectively being billed as the last “ElfQuest” story.  Part of that’s due to the large sense of disconnect that comes with jumping into this without being caught up on the saga’s history beforehand.  That may change when Dark Horse finally reprints the necessary stories in “The Complete ElfQuest,” but that’s several years off at this point.  Another is the fact that the story feels very unfocused at this point.  A good deal of vol. 2 is spent on Suntop sending out “The Call” to help unite all elves on the planet, yet you’ve also got Warlord Angrif Djun building his fleet to take them all out, Shenshen’s desire to utilize her midwife skills more, Rayek and his ongoing possession of Winnowill, Two-Edge going crazy again, and more than a half-dozen more subplots like these.  It’s that rare case when even though there’s a lot going on, the story doesn’t actually feel like it’s going anywhere.  Wendy Pini’s art looks better than ever after all these years, especially with Sonny Strait’s colors, and that makes all of this go down considerably smoother than it would otherwise.

I imagine my feelings reading this volume are akin to what lapsed fans of “X-Men” would feel if they tried jumping back into any of the comics currently being published.  Even so, amongst all of the plot threads being pursued in this volume, only one stands out as being somewhat misguided.  That would be the “major revelation” teased in the solicits for issue #12, the last one collected here.  It involves Wolfrider chief Cutter and part-time wolf/part-time High One Timmain and the newly-revealed connection they’ve shared since the beginning of the series.  Honestly, it feels really late in the game for Wendy and Richard Pini to be busting out a massive retcon like this, especially since it pretty much comes out of nowhere.  Cutter/Skywise shippers, however, may find that their prayers have been kinda, sorta, somewhat answered by it.  I can’t say that I’m put off by this development, and it may even wind up giving the series the focus it needs going forward.  “The Final Quest,” however, remains a series that is only for the “ElfQuest” faithful and no one else at this point.

Well, the first two volumes had their endings derailed by the old “talking killer” trope.  Did writer Antony Johnston go for the hat trick with this third volume of his and artist Justin Greenwood’s sci-fi police series?  No he did not, and that just one reason why this is the best volume of “The Fuse” yet.  The title refers to the day of the year when the station’s orbit is the closest to the sun.  It’s also called the “Day of Chaos” by the cops because this is when crime is at an all-time high.  Some of the stuff is strictly small time:  fights, crowds getting unruly, diapers being stolen from different stores, indecent exposure, and the like.  However, there are several big-ticket items that our protagonists Klem and Ralph wind up lucking into.  There’s the mystery of the “haircut killer,” a mob boss who suffers a heart attack, a bomb threat called in during the mayor’s speech, a mass shooting at a hospital, and more on top of all this.

The previous volumes focused on one main story with a few subplots to pick up the slack and flesh out the world and its characters.  What Johnston does here is that approach dialed up all the way to eleven.  Granted, some of these stories do have the ring of the familiar to them and play out in fairly conventional ways.  Yet what makes the volume as a whole compulsively readable is that Johnston and Greenwood manage to juggle things in way that keeps all of these stories straight and constantly delivers key information regarding each of them.  So the pace remains relentless throughout and you feel the tension and eventual wind-down along with the characters throughout this “Day of Hell.”

Speaking of them, Klem and Ralph remain a likeable and engaging “odd couple” between their banter and complementary skill sets.  She’s the grizzled veteran who knows how things really work on the Fuse, he’s the skilled (and seasoned, at this point) newbie who can look at things from a different angle.  Ralph’s also keeping a secret from his partner that could ruin their relationship, which is touched upon at the very end of this volume as a tease for the next one.  I felt the wait for  this third volume, and it looks like it’ll be the same thing all over again for vol. 4.  May you live in interesting times indeed.

What the hell happened here!?

I’ve enjoyed the Brian Posehn/Gerry Duggan run of “Deadpool” for a while now and was looking forward to what the soft relaunch had to offer.  Yeah, Posehn was no longer going to be co-writing it, but his real job is as a stand-up comedian/actor.  Surely leaving the comic in the hands of professional writer Duggan wouldn’t change things that much, right?  Wrong.  As it turns out, the professional funny guy was responsible for most of the jokes and overall sense of humor in this series.  I imagined Posehn’s contributions to this series mainly consisted of phoning or texting in a joke here and there -- because comics isn’t his main job -- but if this volume is any indication then he was much more integral to the success of the previous run than I had thought.

The core concept behind “Millionaire With a Mouth” is solid enough:  Now that he’s a member of the (Uncanny) Avengers, Deadpool has achieved a level of fame and adoration with the general public that he never thought possible.  What’s the next step for a mercenary like him?  Establishing a franchise based on his services!  Whether it’s simple theft, a necessary bludgeoning, or emceeing a Bat Mitzvah, Deadpool and his Mercs For Money have got you covered.  It’s all going great, until certain important people wind up dead and the evidence all points to the Merc With a Mouth himself.

What follows is a surprisingly po-faced cautionary tale about the trappings of celebrity and what happens when people spend too much time in Deadpool’s head.  The comedy starts out light and never really picks up steam, leaving the fairly uninteresting drama to dominate the story.  Duggan is a decent enough plotter, but comedy isn’t his forte here.  Here, he shows himself to be a guy who thinks that repeating George Stephanopoulos’ last name over and over again actually counts as a joke.  Returning artist Mike Hawthorne is as good as he’s ever been, save for the fact that he’s having to prop up some very thin material here.  I’m honestly shocked by how flat the comedy falls here and the emo-ness displayed by the title character.  Even though there are some promising story threads teased here, like Deadpool’s showdown with Sabretooth, I’m not sure they’ll be worth reading after what I’ve just been subjected to.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

Parker Industries has gone global!  What was once a struggling startup has now become the hottest new name in cutting-edge consumer technology.  After all these years Peter Parker has finally managed to not only have a new business venture that didn’t immediately blow up in his face, but become a worldwide success as well.  Also, a target for the international terrorist syndicate known as the Zodiac.  They’ve got their sights set on Parker Industries and all of Peter’s skills -- and partnerships with Mockingbird, the Prowler, Nick Fury Jr., and most of S.H.I.E.L.D. -- will be needed to stop them.  It’s a different kind of “Spider-Man” story, one that feels even a little more surreal than Dan Slott’s “Superior” run because this is actually Peter  being thrust into the kind of role that has been occupied by Tony Stark in the Marvel Universe.  What makes the difference here is that the title character’s selflessness still shines through in his CEO role, and the whole hard luck aspect of his character is still intact.  You wouldn’t catch Stark giving a major press conference with his fly down after all.

The action and overall style is still very much in the same vein as what Slott has been delivering with the character for several years now.  So even though the setup here is drastically different, chances are you’ll still enjoy it if you like what the writer has been doing with the character after all this time.  It’s also nice to see semi-regular artist Giuseppe Camuncoli finally topline the character’s latest relaunch and he brings effortless style and energy to the large-scale action in the main story.  There’s also plenty of hints and foreshadowing for future events and storylines crammed into this volume.  You get the inevitable return of Norman Osborne and the “Dead No More” event teased in the main story, while a character introduced in “Renew Your Vows” is primed to make their mark on the mainstream Marvel Universe.  As long as you’re not completely put off by Spidey’s new status quo, there is quite simply a ton of stuff to enjoy here.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the most important Dark Horse manga release of the year.  Why is that?  Well, let me ask you something:  When was the last time you saw Dark Horse release a new manga that wasn’t a) from an established creator, b) a spinoff from a popular anime or videogame, or c) a license rescue?  It’s been a while and other companies are even encroaching on “a)” with Hiroaki Samura and Kosuke Fujishima’s latest titles being released by Kodansha USA.  So the bottom line is that if you want to see the company get back to releasing new, weird, and interesting original manga then you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this.

The good news is that “I Am A Hero” would be worth reading even if I wasn’t trying to spark a movement behind it.  It’s a slow-burn approach to a zombie story that takes its sweet time setting things up before unleashing a gushing river of terror and chaos.  Yes, it feels a bit slow in parts, but that’s less of an issue with this two-in-one edition as we get to see more of mangaka Kengo Hanazawa’s ambition on display here.  There’s no doubt about it, whoever at Dark Horse decided to package the series in this fashion deserves a goddamn medal because I don’t think it would’ve read as well in a single-volume format.