Comic Book Review: Week 01/07/15

Two titles from excellent writers that I have been eagerly anticipating came out today, but the issues I usually pull gave them a run for their money!

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 by Ryan North (Writer), Erica Henderson (Artist & Cover Artist), Rico Renzi (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer), Skottie Young (Cover Artist), Siya Oum (Cover Artist), Arthur Adams (Cover Artist)

I was looking forward to this release for quite some time! Ryan North is well known for his webcomic Dinosaur Comics and also wrote many Adventure Time comics, both of which I find hilarious. Squirrel Girl works well with his zany style and he even includes a line of text at the bottom of each page that seems to be narration from the main character herself. If I recall correctly he did a similar thing in Adventure Time to great effect as well. The art and colors are cute and expressive which is just right for the tone of the story. I adore the portrayal of this issue’s villain. With all of that said, I’m not sure I’ll continue buying this book in single issues. It’s fun to read but it’s not quite what I’m looking for in my weekly pulls but the teaser for the next issue is too juicy to say for sure if I won’t get #2.

I’ve noticed a lot of negative reactions to the art around the internet. I’m starting to wonder if art too dissimilar from a general or house style for Marvel tends to get more criticized when it appears in a Marvel comic as opposed to Image, Boom etc. This is just something I noticed appearing in reactions to Javier Pulido’s amazing art in She-Hulk as well. How do you feel about Henderson’s art?

The Fadeout #4 by Ed Brubaker (Writer), Sean Phillips (Artist), Elizabeth Breitweiser (Colorist)

What a quality book! The way Breitweiser does colors just makes me want to try my hand at painting again. This issue starts and finishes on a sad note as it is a dedication to Eduardo Navarro Lopez who passed away in last November, he was the coloring assistant to Elizabeth Breitweiser and she explains in her dedication to him in the back of the book that the role of color seperators/flatters are even more under appreciated than the colorists themselves in the comic book industry. It’s a touching piece and my heart really goes out to the family who lost a loved one so young.

Returning to the story of The Fadeout, it’s another wonderful journey to old timey Hollywood era noir. Nothing like an appearance by Ronald Regan and Clark Gable to set the scene. We also see Charlie slowly getting his memories back from the night of Val’s murder. I was reading the other day that one of the defining elements of noir as a genre is the protagonist’s slow discovery that he is in over his head, and this issue begins to crystalize this feeling for Charlie. Hollywood noir is pretty awesome. So go read it!

PS This issue’s backmatter essay discussed the disappearance of Jean Spangler and how the case did not receive as much attention as the Black Dahlia case.

Birthright #4 by Joshua Williamson (Writer), Andrei Bressan (Artist & Cover Artist), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Pat Brosseau (Letterer)

I’m always impressed with how this comic manages to balance not only Mikey’s past in the fantasy world with the present on Earth, but also balances action scenes with moments that really make all the family members and their relationships with each other come alive. This issue in particular felt like it ended way too quick though, it’s going to be difficult waiting for #5. So go read it! Join me in suspense!

X-Men #23 by G. Willow Wilson (Writer), Roland Boschi (Artist), Jay Leisten (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colorist), Terry Dodson (Cover Artist), Rachel Dodson (Cover Artist)

I haven’t been pulling any of the X-men titles (there are at least four I think) but when I heard that my favorite Marvel author G. Willow Wilson of Ms. Marvel fame would be taking the helm for X-Men I knew that I wanted to check it out. This particular X-Men series features an all female team of Jubilee, Storm, Psylocke and X-23 (let me know in the comics if I’m missing anyone). It starts with a great guest appearance by Gambit at “Burning Tree” and the sudden appearance of bizarre storm and sinkhole.

Sadly, I was a left a little disappointed with the issue as a whole. It was probably wrong of me to expect to be moved to tears and laughter the same way I am when I read Ms. Marvel considering that this character lineup is completely different and there’s a lot going on with the X-Men characters considering that the death of Wolverine is still fresh for them. I guess the main source of my disappointment was with Storm, but I’m not sure if that’s a disappointment of Willow’s writing her, or a disappointment with the character herself. In any case I’m definitely giving this story arc one more issue and I hope that you will too. So go read it!

I’d also like to mention that I know understand what Krakoa is thanks to the Rachel and Miles X-plain the X-men podcast (episode 5 is when they discuss Krakoa: The Island That Walks Like A Man and its apperance in Giant Size X-Men #1). I can’t recommend this podcast  enough to anyone curious about the long and perilous mess of continuity that is the X-Men. The hosts are a lot of fun and know their stuff!

Afterthoughts

One of my resolutions for the year is to save money across the board, so I’m starting to cull my pull list of titles and decide what I will switch to trade waiting for. I’m considering then lightening up on flash weekly reviews and switching to more in depth reviews of full arcs. Do you have any comic book related resolutions this year? Let me know in the comments!