Into the Longbox
Will Eisner’s The Spirit #22, Aragones, Evanier, Hardin, Faucher. The creative team is finally starting to grow on me. If anything the plot was a little too needlessly intricate, but overall a good Spirit yarn that moved right along. A nice issue.
Captain America #43, Brubaker, Ross, Laguna, D’Armata. A new arc begins, and things seem a little posed. Presumably that’s to let new readers climb on here, and it seems like a good place to do so. Ross’s pencils seem a little stiffer than Epting’s, which underscores the stiff nature of the story. Still, no issue with Batroc the Leaper in it can be all bad. A good place to hop on a fun title.
Madame Xanadu #5, Wagner, Hadley, Friend. The art’s still gorgeous and integrated tightly to the story. However, I’m finding myself less and less interested in the story as we go. I suspect that Wagner’s laying groundwork he’s going to need later, but each arc feels the same. We check in to a historical period, the Stranger shows up, something bad happens that Madame Xanadu plays a role in, some DC Universe connections are made, and then we’re off to the next period. Unfortunately this leaves us little room for a supporting cast. Worse yet, I find the relationship between the two leads difficult to fathom. Wagner makes it clear that Nimue is intelligent and well versed in the occult, but she’s both obsessed by and unable to find out anything about one of the most powerful beings in the magical DC Universe. It doesn’t seem consistent somehow. Hopefully either I’ll figure out what I’m missing, or things will improve. It’s still gorgeous.
Sandman: The Dream Hunters #1, Gaiman and Russell. I have the version of this that Gaiman and Amano did a few years ago. The story is great, but I know it. I’m primarily buying this to see how Russell interprets the goings on. It’s beautiful and interesting to see how Russell attacks the same problems Amano did.
Secret Six #3, Simone, Scott, Hazelwood. Great fun. There’s nothing particularly deep about Secret Six, but it’s consistently entertaining. The characters are all lively and fun, and the action is completely over the top. And behind the fun is the understanding that these folks are not the good guys, whatever decency they may occasionally show. Anything can happen to a villian, and these folks are playing way out of their league. It’s tough not to admire their pinache as they do it, though.