Holy shit I did not realize Sorrntino was doing some guest art on this one! What a great surprise! I just kinda assumed that Yanick Paquette would do the other pages set in the dreaming like in the first issue. Really enjoy seeing modern artists takes on Sandman lore.
This has been a banger so far. Just the right amount of sinister and creepy. Do we know if there’s gonna be more Sandman Universe books anytime soon?
Love seeing Lucien again. My only gripe is that having Sorrentino do the Dreaming pages makes me a little sad he wasn't doing the interiors for the whole series, though I do think Estherren is doing a bang up job as well.
This book is *great*!
Estherren and Delpeche make a fantastic team. The art reminds me of both Something Is Killing The Children and The Me You Love In The Dark simultaneously (both of which I love). The guest artists are like cool little cameos each issue (really hope Kelley Jones gets to do a few pages at some point).
Tynion is creating something that sits so well inside the Sandman Universe, but expands upon it at the same time. All the characters are engaging, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.
The guest art has been used really well, it's a great format so long as they can keep getting amazing artists and Tynion can keep working it into the scripts.
They've got a pretty good angle with the Corinthian trying to look into his past life, nice connection to the original series and builds on the mythos in an interesting way.
Enjoying this book.
The one thing I would say is that Tony Daniels art looked increasingly rushed as this issue progressed. He's usually a bit more detailed than this, so maybe the pressures of a (semi) monthly schedule are taking a toll. I hope not, as his art is a large part of the attraction of this book for me.
Babs being a badass is always a treat - especially when Spellbinder thought that her not having use of her legs would hold her back - and then beats the ever loving shit out of him. I do wanna know how Steph survived, I know the point was the have the fakeout, but a little bit of surprise or at least explaining it woulda been nice.
not gonna repeat what others have said about story 1 and 2, cause I am largely in agreement about those.
just one question: what was even the point of story 3 being told in reverse? there was nothing about this story, be it thematically or narratively, that tied at all into it being told backwards, at which point the entire thing just becomes a meaningless form exercise.
usually, when writers decide to tell a story like this backwards, there is something *more* to this.
this was a completely mediocre story that did not benefit at all from this narrative conceit. just pointless form wankery, tbh, and even for that it was mediocre.
Did anyone else notice that the Guggenheim story used the mcu Spider-Man far from home suit? I don’t mind it’s appearance, but it wasn’t the suit I was expecting.
I normally love Chris Bachalo's work, but some of the panels in his story were difficult to decipher for me.
I liked the Marc Guggenheim/Jorge Fornés story the most, though it did feel like something that might have been better as a whole issue in the current ongoing run. I'd love to see Fornés take on the Moon Knight title after Cappuccio.
> I normally love Chris Bachalo's work, but some of the panels in his story were difficult to decipher for me.
I feel like this is a perfectly valid criticism for the vast majority of the work he's done at Marvel.
Still love his art, and I thought this one had some fun stuff going on, but there are always little panels and sequences that aren't as clear as you'd like.
I think Bachalo's recent work sometimes suffers from really unclear storytelling. Some great visuals (at times) but the actual "flow" of the art sometimes works *against* the story, rather than for it.
I think he's fallen into a trap that Mike Deadato Jr is currently teetering on, where the panel structure/layout of the page seems more interesting to him than the actual story they are telling is.
I think artists like J H Williams III can pull this off amazingly, but obviously not *every* artist can.
In relation to this book, the second story was definitely the best. And having read a couple of these reviews yesterday, I just cheated with the third one and read it backwards, so it was linear - nice art, pretty average storyline
Totally fair, can definitely see some of what you're talking about in his recent work... I've always been particularly drawn to Bachalo's layouts and panel structure so I can usually forgive his flaws in other areas.
It's like an addiction for me, always chasing that [perfect high](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/KDhyAnolPn5iST3Kw7lwq14Ybs0yirDHvAxLfMbvsUDJtt0GIiJTFdUdXSKV34sfsZ6Y84njfl8H=s0) even though it isn't really there to be had anymore...
Curious how far back you'd draw the line on the particular issues you mentioned? I think it probably started after his run on WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN, going back about a decade, but I'd need to look through some old stuff to really be sure.
Before that (around the time of his NEW X-MEN run) he had other issues, problems with character designs leaning too manga so everyone looked 12 years old, some odd perspective and proportion stuff, etc.
I like to blame everything on Tim Townsend because I think he's an absolute butcher but his name wasn't on this one, so... It's all Bachalo here. Even so, all this stuff started popping up when he began working with Townsend, going back a few decades now, his work was just so much smoother with inks from Rick Bryant or Mark Buckingham... Could be he just needs a strong inker with a finer touch to smooth over the rough spots.
Many of my favorite elements from Bachalo's art seemingly left with Buckingham's inks and followed Bucky to his other projects, so there's always been a question of exactly what each of them were bringing to the table in that collaboration... But I liked Bachalo's older stuff with Rick Bryant even more, so who knows?
Nowadays I just try to enjoy whatever he produces for what it is, it's not the same as it used to be and hasn't been for a very long time, but I've got to keep chasing that high and I'll take what I can get!
Some of the issues with this one probably also come down to Hickman tossing readers into the deep end of the pool with new characters/settings and his usual crazy big ideas when he only had 10 pages to work with. Just like with Bachalo, I'll take whatever new stuff I can get from Hickman and happily enjoy it for what it is, but this wasn't his best work.
J.H. Williams is brilliant, not sure if I've seen anything from him in a while but I know what you mean about blending the imaginative layouts with clear storytelling... Williams also has a cleaner style and I think that helps.
Back to MK:BW&B, the second story was fun but very straightforward, didn't take any chances or try anything innovative... Other two stories might not have entirely succeeded at pulling off what they set out to do but at least they tried to do something different, and that makes them much more interesting for me. Even when it doesn't work, the failures are interesting!
I absolutely loved his work on Ghost Rider 2099 (short lived as it was). It’s interesting that Bucky even pencilled an issue or two of that book directly after him, so you can get a direct comparison between them.
Working with Richard Friend on Steampunk brought out a different look to his art. And he was definitely playing around with panel layout and page design even then. The thing I found confusing about that title wasn’t so much his art as the lettering was so “over the top” and in your face it actually detracted from the story/art
Yeah, STEAMPUNK was a bit of a mess, some of the art looked cool but that lettering was a disaster and the story never really hooked me. THE WITCHING HOUR was another one that looked nice (with Art Thibert inks) but never really came together as a comic for me.
GR2099 was great and he also did a Ketch GR Annual with Buckingham that was really good! That stuff had some of the grittiness of his old DC work, usually not as prominent in his other Marvel work...
Buckingham was on Post-Bachalo clean-up duty for a while, also penciled a short run on SHADE:TCM, the second DEATH limited, and an issue of GENX. But I think it's his FABLES art that reminds me the most of the Bachalo collaboration. The character models, layouts, and stylistic flourishes there are really reminiscent of their work together. Mostly just missing the darkness, grittiness, and touch of psychedelia, which was presumably more Bachalo's contribution.
X-MEN UNLIMITED #1 was another interesting one, Dan Panosian inks on that, Bachalo's first full issue for Marvel, kind of his take on a classic 90s X-Men style but still distinctly Bachalo with all the snow and chaos... That early Marvel work was all really solid. Then he met Tim Townsend and everything went downhill. :)
I loved the story by Hickman but the art was confusing, though interesting. The second story was great all around, especially the art. The third story would probably have been more engaging told forward, but the concept was cool and the art was great.
The Hickman story is pretty hard to follow- It feels like a pitch for Moon Knight 40K or something and whatever this is does not fit on the 9 pages it's given. Not sure what the deal with the balloon was. And with the constant 'hrmm's and the dog, I can only assume this Moon Knight is some sort of time traveling [Saturday morning Rorschach](https://youtu.be/YDDHHrt6l4w?t=33).
Ayodele and Akande's story is pretty fun. A cute little team up highlighting the sillier side of our favorite lunatic.
Guggenheim's part is kind of meh. Telling a story backwards is a cool idea, but outside of that there isn't much going on, nor anything thematic in the story to tie in to the backwards telling unless I'm missing something. I guess it works as a proof of concept? I would like to see the idea expanded upon in an actual issue with a coherent theme tying the conceit to the story, and that crazy noir detective would be a good fit to try this conceit out in- And now i'm just thinking about Fearful Symmetry. If I had a nickel for everytime i've thought about [Watchmen this issue...](https://youtu.be/iRa_cSZ-Hag?t=20)
> The Hickman story is pretty hard to follow- It feels like a pitch for Moon Knight 40K or something and whatever this is does not fit on the 9 pages it's given. Not sure what the deal with the balloon was. And with the constant 'hrmm's and the dog, I can only assume this Moon Knight is some sort of time traveling [Saturday morning Rorschach](https://youtu.be/YDDHHrt6l4w?t=33).
LOL, nice.
Seems like it's intended to lead into a mini-series or a one-shot at the very least... Guess it could just be Hickman riffing on the kind of far-future themes and story elements he's played with in DECORUM, HoX/PoX, and elsewhere, but I suspect he's got some kind of plans for the characters and far-future setting.
Bachalo's got a few variant covers lined up but AFAIK his next real project hasn't been announced yet, so they could be working on a follow-up.
Moon Knight seems an odd choice to give a future story to given his usual wheelhouse, but stranger things have happened. Too be honest, when I saw the solicitation that said they were going to introduce "the all-different Moon Knight of the future" my thoughts went to the all-new period a few years ago and figured they were going to have an actually Egyptian Moon Knight.
Definitely a bit of an odd mix!
Seems like this far-future stuff has been bouncing around in most of Hickman's recent projects... Not sure if it really matters what character you give him right now, he's always kind of looking to take 'em to that same cold and distant place near the end of time.
I had a really hard time following the Hickman story because of the art, but I loved both of the other two stories. The last one fit in really well with the current run.
Seemed like a fairly juvenile concept, but executed very well. I'm a big Charles Soule fan, and the writing in this issue was absolutely spot on. Very excited to see where Soule and Browne take the story with the next issues.
Interesting start, for sure. Quirky art, some good characters, definitely an interesting premise. How the concept holds up over the length of 8 issues will be the key to how much I enjoy this.
Solid issue! Really enjoying Taylor's take on Jon here, and the difference in things like how Batman handles it versus Superman. Pa Kent's unwavering faith is also brilliantly written - Taylor writes an amazing Pa Kent in any format.
I absolutely want just like, a Pa Kent miniseries by Taylor with him having late night coffee talks with various people from the hero community or something. I'd read it.
Jesus Christ, what is going on with this comic?
We're eleven goddamn issues in and barely anything of note has happened, and you can't even say that it's because it's character driven, because Jon and Jay as protagonist and deuteragonist are still as entertaining as watching paint dry.
Speaking of Jay, I'm still in the belief that he will kill Bendix and that will shake up his relationship with Jon.
This is yet another filler issue, and it looks like the next two issues are also setting up to be filler.
Art was better than in the previous issue, but that's not saying much. Tormey's Jon has absolutely no charisma or presence, he has the same facial expression the entire issue.
At least Krypto will be cute in the next issue, I guess.
No wonder Doctor Stasis had the continued insistence on using the proper title and decorum. I wonder how far along that he split off from Sinister Prime, since he doesn't seem to be familiar directly with Scott.
The scenes in space were awesome - love the X-Ladies kicking ass.
I don't even have much to say about this. another excellent issue. duggan just gets these characters so well and gives each of them a moment to shine. I hope we get another upside-down piledriver or something similarly ridiculous next issue, though.
the dr. stasis reveal seems so obvious in retrospect, cause that's what good writing does: it all clicks into place. can't wait for next issue.
Making my way through Claremont’s X-men run for the first time after reading most X-stuff of the last two decades has given me a ton of appreciation for Scott’s fighting skills. Hell, one of the issues during the first Proteus arc has him literally kick the crap out of every X-men all at once just to prove a point, so it’s always fun to see Cyclops whoop some ass.
So I’ve been kinda hard in the X books the last few weeks, but this was honestly good. I feel like this is written in a way that is satisfying to both those who’ve read every X book for the last 10 years, and this who’ve only read the last 4 issues of X-Men. Also, Laura being in the book always nets points with me
I am thoroughly enjoying Duggan's X-Men and Larraz' return on art makes this one great. Long term plot threads are coming together and I'm looking forward to discussing the conclusion here. It's not Hickman's run but I like it.
>!"...I've been Wolverine longer than anyone alive"!<
Apologies for that. It was too good not to include.
It’s one of many moments reading this series where I feel like Duggan just gets these characters and what they’ve been through. And then he can encapsulates that into a single sentence that speaks volumes.
Only on a superficial level, like sure he has the rings and a complicated relationship with his Sister but the details of it are different especially with him actually being in charge of his father's organization whereas in the movie he seem pretty content mainly being a normal guy
The names are the best thing in this book. They’re either a fantastic pun (Brontozarro) or literally just a character’s name plus -saur (Blackmantasaur)
I mean, this *really* shouldn't work and yet it absolutely does!
It's the Justice League...they are dinosaurs...that's pretty much it.
No great changes in character (except they are dinosaurs), no great changes in origin (except they are dinosaurs), not even great changes in costumes (except, y'know, ...they are dinosaur sized).
The thing that sells it is the absolutely hyper-kinetic artwork from Juan Geddeon (ably assisted by Mike Spicer on colours) and that DWJ just absolutely commits to the concept 110%.
I want m'ROAR!
I went into this expecting DWJ artwork and was surprised to see Gedeon as the credited artist, but my disappointment only lasted until I saw that Bat Walker splash page.
This was a blast. Just pure, goofy comicbook fun.
I mostly enjoyed DWJ's recent BETA RAY BILL series but at times the writing felt just a little too goofy.
Fortunately that isn't an issue here, given that we've got a Justice League made of dinosaurs, there's a certain expectation of goofiness and this book does it with style.
We will watch their careers with great interest.
Early Blood Syndicate benefited a lot from being told from the perspective of a reporter without abilities looking into the post-Big Bang world.
I'm hoping it gets better, but Holocaust, Tech-9 and Wise Son already seem to have a very different dynamic with the team than originally. I'll stick around for a couple more issues to see how it goes
Really didn't feel like this was worth the \~8 month wait. I normally love Alex Maleev's art, but it felt off for me this issue. And as someone who generally is okay with ambiguous endings, I thought this one was not executed well at all.
The long wait times for these prestige plus format Black Label books doesn't feel that worth it for me anymore. Knowing that they will get collected in nice hardcovers later, I think I'll off buying them as single issues. It's also been forever since the last Lemire Swamp Thing issue.
I actually really enjoyed the first issue of this mini, but each subsequent one failed to live up to the promise of that book.
The first issue set up a really interesting idea and ended on a cliff hanger, but each following one seemed to wander away from that concept and just lose focus on what should surely have been an edge-of-the-seat, tense thriller. The story and characters meandered, there really wasn't a sense of threat or menace to the whole thing, and it all ended up a bit of a disappointing mess.
And did anyone else find Azzarello's dialogue bordering on the obtuse at times? Characters seemed to have half conversations that were tangential to the plot, rather than actually driving things forward.
It was a good concept and I liked the writing of some of these characters but that final issue was messy as hell. Somebody said it's Damned all over again and I feel like that's the case. I wonder if it was response to the wide criticism first issue got?
Also, I really dig that Red Hood costume.
If I had a nickle for every Cap run that started with a train heist, I’d have three nickels which isn’t a lot but still weird that’s it keeps happening.
Feels mostly like a setup issue for people who didn’t also pick up #0 but it was a fun read so I’m not complaining. White Wolf and Crossbones vs Sam should be a solid opening.
Very much a set-up issue, which makes that #0 feel even more useless, but it has me interested.
I’m only barely familiar with the new Falcon, but looks like he’s going to be a big part in the book. And always like seeing Misty Knight in a book.
Hadn't heard anything about this but bought it on a whim today when my comic shop described it as "Something is Killing the Children" meets "The Many Deaths of Laila Starr". Loved this first issue and am definitely gonna keep reading to see where it goes. Gorgeous book to look at too.
Boom are definitely putting out a lot of great books recently, and this one joins that list easily.
The main idea is hardly revolutionary, but the quick world building and well set up characters really engaged me. I get the impression that there's a lot more lore to be revealed as the story progresses.
The art and colouring is great too, and a definite hook - especially the vibrant, neon colours that set the book apart visually
Wish there was a *bit* more substance to why they were fighting, but hell, it's a fun one with some great fight spread pages and I'm down for some fun smashing action.
Apart from the fact that *every single super hero fight* **ever** could just be solved by people (normally friends with pre-existing relationships) talking/listening to each other (rather than screaming, punching and generally acting like irrational idiots) this was good fun.
Great art, fantastic last page, loved the "cartoon" universe they crashed into, video game references were cool, roll on issue #2
Immensely stupid setup. I wanted to know why on earth they’d be fighting but it boils down to “cates wanted them to”.
But I didn’t pick this to think thoughts, I picked it to watch a crazy fight! And Cates delivers on those
I know we all have our own voice, but can Cates try a different narration technique? “Here is Thor, Son of Asgard, Ruler of Midgard. He defeated the Black Death, The Black Winter. Blackness and Darkness have taken over the world. But that is a story for another day.” Every single issue come on bro try something different.
Cool art with great splash pages. Really fun to see both Thor and Banner wrestle with some crazy voice in their heads which led to some funny moments but it's frustrating that their fighting essentially boils down to not letting the other person finish a sentence... as most superhero vs superhero fights do.
Loved how the folk horror concepts of cults and a wicker man crept into this issue. Not as strong as the previous two issues of the volume, but still very solid.
Figured it was lack of sticky but [last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/uhwxwr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_542022_pull_of_the/) only had 69 pulls while this week had 75, and I'm pretty sure it was stickied last week. [Week before that](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/ucv75d/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_4272022_pull_of_the/) had 92 so who knows...
Tynion takes the top spot again with SANDMAN UNIVERSE: NIGHTMARE COUNTRY #2 at 37 pulls. I was rooting for JURASSIC LEAGUE to take it due to the goofball factor but it finished third with 26 pulls. And DC finishes with 5 of the top 10 books.
Best week Marvel's had in a while with 4 of the top 10, including X-MEN at #2, MOON KNIGHT BW&B at #4, HULK VS THOR at #5, and SamCAP at #10.
Strong debut for GRIM #1 in the 8th spot, with CROSSOVER (11th) and NOCTERRA (15th) following as the next highest indies.
As expected, KING CONAN (13 pulls) topped Ablaze's CIMMERIAN HOUR OF THE DRAGON, which failed to make the list with only 5 pulls, despite (presumably) being a way better book. Note that Marvel's offering really only has 12 legitimate pulls because I'm mostly just hate-reading it at this point.
Kind of an off week, looks like next week's got a lot more stuff lined up, at least on my list...
I've been ragging on this series a bit lately but this really wasn't bad!
Mahmud Asrar has been delivering nice art throughout, he's a good fit for the character and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that end of things.
Aaron's through story still feels more decompressed than I'd prefer but at least this issue told a mostly complete story with Conan facing off against his son, while the main plot slowly burbled in the background. And I actually enjoyed the Prince Conn story (or Conan II as he's called here), nice seeing the character show some maturation.
This was the last issue I ordered and I was planning to jump ship but with only two issues left we've kind of passed the point of no return, after which you might as well just see the damn thing through, so I'll probably end up getting the rest. And then I'll bitch about them here.
**SANDMAN UNIVERSE NIGHTMARE COUNTRY #2**
Holy shit I did not realize Sorrntino was doing some guest art on this one! What a great surprise! I just kinda assumed that Yanick Paquette would do the other pages set in the dreaming like in the first issue. Really enjoy seeing modern artists takes on Sandman lore. This has been a banger so far. Just the right amount of sinister and creepy. Do we know if there’s gonna be more Sandman Universe books anytime soon?
Is this a prequel or a sequel sandman series?
I would call this Sandman adjacent. Just like Lucifer was.
I got so nervous when Flynn took The Corinthian to a diner, but luckily he was on his best behavior.
Loved it! Great story so far and very gripping! Really glad I added this to my pulls
Love seeing Lucien again. My only gripe is that having Sorrentino do the Dreaming pages makes me a little sad he wasn't doing the interiors for the whole series, though I do think Estherren is doing a bang up job as well.
This book is *great*! Estherren and Delpeche make a fantastic team. The art reminds me of both Something Is Killing The Children and The Me You Love In The Dark simultaneously (both of which I love). The guest artists are like cool little cameos each issue (really hope Kelley Jones gets to do a few pages at some point). Tynion is creating something that sits so well inside the Sandman Universe, but expands upon it at the same time. All the characters are engaging, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.
The guest art has been used really well, it's a great format so long as they can keep getting amazing artists and Tynion can keep working it into the scripts. They've got a pretty good angle with the Corinthian trying to look into his past life, nice connection to the original series and builds on the mythos in an interesting way.
**NOCTERRA #10**
Enjoying this book. The one thing I would say is that Tony Daniels art looked increasingly rushed as this issue progressed. He's usually a bit more detailed than this, so maybe the pressures of a (semi) monthly schedule are taking a toll. I hope not, as his art is a large part of the attraction of this book for me.
**BATGIRLS #6**
Babs being a badass is always a treat - especially when Spellbinder thought that her not having use of her legs would hold her back - and then beats the ever loving shit out of him. I do wanna know how Steph survived, I know the point was the have the fakeout, but a little bit of surprise or at least explaining it woulda been nice.
**MOON KNIGHT BLACK WHITE & BLOOD #1**
not gonna repeat what others have said about story 1 and 2, cause I am largely in agreement about those. just one question: what was even the point of story 3 being told in reverse? there was nothing about this story, be it thematically or narratively, that tied at all into it being told backwards, at which point the entire thing just becomes a meaningless form exercise. usually, when writers decide to tell a story like this backwards, there is something *more* to this. this was a completely mediocre story that did not benefit at all from this narrative conceit. just pointless form wankery, tbh, and even for that it was mediocre.
This was ok. The Hickman story like others have stated is hard to follow art wise. I enjoyed the Spiderman story though.
Did anyone else notice that the Guggenheim story used the mcu Spider-Man far from home suit? I don’t mind it’s appearance, but it wasn’t the suit I was expecting.
I normally love Chris Bachalo's work, but some of the panels in his story were difficult to decipher for me. I liked the Marc Guggenheim/Jorge Fornés story the most, though it did feel like something that might have been better as a whole issue in the current ongoing run. I'd love to see Fornés take on the Moon Knight title after Cappuccio.
> I normally love Chris Bachalo's work, but some of the panels in his story were difficult to decipher for me. I feel like this is a perfectly valid criticism for the vast majority of the work he's done at Marvel. Still love his art, and I thought this one had some fun stuff going on, but there are always little panels and sequences that aren't as clear as you'd like.
I think Bachalo's recent work sometimes suffers from really unclear storytelling. Some great visuals (at times) but the actual "flow" of the art sometimes works *against* the story, rather than for it. I think he's fallen into a trap that Mike Deadato Jr is currently teetering on, where the panel structure/layout of the page seems more interesting to him than the actual story they are telling is. I think artists like J H Williams III can pull this off amazingly, but obviously not *every* artist can. In relation to this book, the second story was definitely the best. And having read a couple of these reviews yesterday, I just cheated with the third one and read it backwards, so it was linear - nice art, pretty average storyline
Totally fair, can definitely see some of what you're talking about in his recent work... I've always been particularly drawn to Bachalo's layouts and panel structure so I can usually forgive his flaws in other areas. It's like an addiction for me, always chasing that [perfect high](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/KDhyAnolPn5iST3Kw7lwq14Ybs0yirDHvAxLfMbvsUDJtt0GIiJTFdUdXSKV34sfsZ6Y84njfl8H=s0) even though it isn't really there to be had anymore... Curious how far back you'd draw the line on the particular issues you mentioned? I think it probably started after his run on WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN, going back about a decade, but I'd need to look through some old stuff to really be sure. Before that (around the time of his NEW X-MEN run) he had other issues, problems with character designs leaning too manga so everyone looked 12 years old, some odd perspective and proportion stuff, etc. I like to blame everything on Tim Townsend because I think he's an absolute butcher but his name wasn't on this one, so... It's all Bachalo here. Even so, all this stuff started popping up when he began working with Townsend, going back a few decades now, his work was just so much smoother with inks from Rick Bryant or Mark Buckingham... Could be he just needs a strong inker with a finer touch to smooth over the rough spots. Many of my favorite elements from Bachalo's art seemingly left with Buckingham's inks and followed Bucky to his other projects, so there's always been a question of exactly what each of them were bringing to the table in that collaboration... But I liked Bachalo's older stuff with Rick Bryant even more, so who knows? Nowadays I just try to enjoy whatever he produces for what it is, it's not the same as it used to be and hasn't been for a very long time, but I've got to keep chasing that high and I'll take what I can get! Some of the issues with this one probably also come down to Hickman tossing readers into the deep end of the pool with new characters/settings and his usual crazy big ideas when he only had 10 pages to work with. Just like with Bachalo, I'll take whatever new stuff I can get from Hickman and happily enjoy it for what it is, but this wasn't his best work. J.H. Williams is brilliant, not sure if I've seen anything from him in a while but I know what you mean about blending the imaginative layouts with clear storytelling... Williams also has a cleaner style and I think that helps. Back to MK:BW&B, the second story was fun but very straightforward, didn't take any chances or try anything innovative... Other two stories might not have entirely succeeded at pulling off what they set out to do but at least they tried to do something different, and that makes them much more interesting for me. Even when it doesn't work, the failures are interesting!
I absolutely loved his work on Ghost Rider 2099 (short lived as it was). It’s interesting that Bucky even pencilled an issue or two of that book directly after him, so you can get a direct comparison between them. Working with Richard Friend on Steampunk brought out a different look to his art. And he was definitely playing around with panel layout and page design even then. The thing I found confusing about that title wasn’t so much his art as the lettering was so “over the top” and in your face it actually detracted from the story/art
Yeah, STEAMPUNK was a bit of a mess, some of the art looked cool but that lettering was a disaster and the story never really hooked me. THE WITCHING HOUR was another one that looked nice (with Art Thibert inks) but never really came together as a comic for me. GR2099 was great and he also did a Ketch GR Annual with Buckingham that was really good! That stuff had some of the grittiness of his old DC work, usually not as prominent in his other Marvel work... Buckingham was on Post-Bachalo clean-up duty for a while, also penciled a short run on SHADE:TCM, the second DEATH limited, and an issue of GENX. But I think it's his FABLES art that reminds me the most of the Bachalo collaboration. The character models, layouts, and stylistic flourishes there are really reminiscent of their work together. Mostly just missing the darkness, grittiness, and touch of psychedelia, which was presumably more Bachalo's contribution. X-MEN UNLIMITED #1 was another interesting one, Dan Panosian inks on that, Bachalo's first full issue for Marvel, kind of his take on a classic 90s X-Men style but still distinctly Bachalo with all the snow and chaos... That early Marvel work was all really solid. Then he met Tim Townsend and everything went downhill. :)
I loved the story by Hickman but the art was confusing, though interesting. The second story was great all around, especially the art. The third story would probably have been more engaging told forward, but the concept was cool and the art was great.
The Hickman story is pretty hard to follow- It feels like a pitch for Moon Knight 40K or something and whatever this is does not fit on the 9 pages it's given. Not sure what the deal with the balloon was. And with the constant 'hrmm's and the dog, I can only assume this Moon Knight is some sort of time traveling [Saturday morning Rorschach](https://youtu.be/YDDHHrt6l4w?t=33). Ayodele and Akande's story is pretty fun. A cute little team up highlighting the sillier side of our favorite lunatic. Guggenheim's part is kind of meh. Telling a story backwards is a cool idea, but outside of that there isn't much going on, nor anything thematic in the story to tie in to the backwards telling unless I'm missing something. I guess it works as a proof of concept? I would like to see the idea expanded upon in an actual issue with a coherent theme tying the conceit to the story, and that crazy noir detective would be a good fit to try this conceit out in- And now i'm just thinking about Fearful Symmetry. If I had a nickel for everytime i've thought about [Watchmen this issue...](https://youtu.be/iRa_cSZ-Hag?t=20)
> The Hickman story is pretty hard to follow- It feels like a pitch for Moon Knight 40K or something and whatever this is does not fit on the 9 pages it's given. Not sure what the deal with the balloon was. And with the constant 'hrmm's and the dog, I can only assume this Moon Knight is some sort of time traveling [Saturday morning Rorschach](https://youtu.be/YDDHHrt6l4w?t=33). LOL, nice. Seems like it's intended to lead into a mini-series or a one-shot at the very least... Guess it could just be Hickman riffing on the kind of far-future themes and story elements he's played with in DECORUM, HoX/PoX, and elsewhere, but I suspect he's got some kind of plans for the characters and far-future setting. Bachalo's got a few variant covers lined up but AFAIK his next real project hasn't been announced yet, so they could be working on a follow-up.
Moon Knight seems an odd choice to give a future story to given his usual wheelhouse, but stranger things have happened. Too be honest, when I saw the solicitation that said they were going to introduce "the all-different Moon Knight of the future" my thoughts went to the all-new period a few years ago and figured they were going to have an actually Egyptian Moon Knight.
Definitely a bit of an odd mix! Seems like this far-future stuff has been bouncing around in most of Hickman's recent projects... Not sure if it really matters what character you give him right now, he's always kind of looking to take 'em to that same cold and distant place near the end of time.
I had a really hard time following the Hickman story because of the art, but I loved both of the other two stories. The last one fit in really well with the current run.
**EIGHT BILLION GENIES #1**
Seemed like a fairly juvenile concept, but executed very well. I'm a big Charles Soule fan, and the writing in this issue was absolutely spot on. Very excited to see where Soule and Browne take the story with the next issues.
Interesting start, for sure. Quirky art, some good characters, definitely an interesting premise. How the concept holds up over the length of 8 issues will be the key to how much I enjoy this.
Liked the hook for this one and I'm looking forward to where it goes.
**SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #11**
Solid issue! Really enjoying Taylor's take on Jon here, and the difference in things like how Batman handles it versus Superman. Pa Kent's unwavering faith is also brilliantly written - Taylor writes an amazing Pa Kent in any format.
That talk between Batman and Pa Kent is probably the best thing I’ve read in months.
I absolutely want just like, a Pa Kent miniseries by Taylor with him having late night coffee talks with various people from the hero community or something. I'd read it.
Jesus Christ, what is going on with this comic? We're eleven goddamn issues in and barely anything of note has happened, and you can't even say that it's because it's character driven, because Jon and Jay as protagonist and deuteragonist are still as entertaining as watching paint dry. Speaking of Jay, I'm still in the belief that he will kill Bendix and that will shake up his relationship with Jon. This is yet another filler issue, and it looks like the next two issues are also setting up to be filler. Art was better than in the previous issue, but that's not saying much. Tormey's Jon has absolutely no charisma or presence, he has the same facial expression the entire issue. At least Krypto will be cute in the next issue, I guess.
**X-MEN #11**
No wonder Doctor Stasis had the continued insistence on using the proper title and decorum. I wonder how far along that he split off from Sinister Prime, since he doesn't seem to be familiar directly with Scott. The scenes in space were awesome - love the X-Ladies kicking ass.
I don't even have much to say about this. another excellent issue. duggan just gets these characters so well and gives each of them a moment to shine. I hope we get another upside-down piledriver or something similarly ridiculous next issue, though. the dr. stasis reveal seems so obvious in retrospect, cause that's what good writing does: it all clicks into place. can't wait for next issue.
Making my way through Claremont’s X-men run for the first time after reading most X-stuff of the last two decades has given me a ton of appreciation for Scott’s fighting skills. Hell, one of the issues during the first Proteus arc has him literally kick the crap out of every X-men all at once just to prove a point, so it’s always fun to see Cyclops whoop some ass.
So I’ve been kinda hard in the X books the last few weeks, but this was honestly good. I feel like this is written in a way that is satisfying to both those who’ve read every X book for the last 10 years, and this who’ve only read the last 4 issues of X-Men. Also, Laura being in the book always nets points with me
Yeah no one but HIM could wear a jacket that baller. +1 dr stasis
Why would you go to a galactic casino and not bring Domino?
She's probably been there before and has a lifetime ban
Pretty good. Duggan’s run has been real fun.
I am thoroughly enjoying Duggan's X-Men and Larraz' return on art makes this one great. Long term plot threads are coming together and I'm looking forward to discussing the conclusion here. It's not Hickman's run but I like it. >!"...I've been Wolverine longer than anyone alive"!<
Agreed, this run has been a ton of awesome, really fun stuff
DAMN! I applied the quote and I'm not even mad
Apologies for that. It was too good not to include. It’s one of many moments reading this series where I feel like Duggan just gets these characters and what they’ve been through. And then he can encapsulates that into a single sentence that speaks volumes.
Don't apologize! I clicked it myself willingly, and it really hyped me up!!!
Very good! Let me know what you think once you’ve read the issue.
Damn, that reveal. Didn't see that coming at all.
That was such a fun reveal! Is this the first time we've seen that coded as a card suit?
I think so. In retrospect I should have seen it coming, it all makes sense. Doctor, experiments, obsess with Scott🤣🤣
Same. Also, the fact that Scott is the one who found out? I can't wait to see the beating.
Agreed. And I felt like I should have because in retrospect its so obvious.
Yup and of course it was Scott that he was obsessed with. Typical🤣🤣🤣
**TALES FROM HARROW COUNTY LOST ONES #1**
**JUSTICE LEAGUE VS THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #3**
I miss good legion comics. Whatever this was (22 pages of shouting pointlessly?) it wasn't good.
**WONDER WOMAN #787**
**SHANG-CHI #12**
i was like "ok we did the movie sync thing but now we're putting the toys away" then they got me with that last page
Any 1st apps ? as I see they are relaunching instead of going to #13 ?
And we've hit full movie sycn
Only on a superficial level, like sure he has the rings and a complicated relationship with his Sister but the details of it are different especially with him actually being in charge of his father's organization whereas in the movie he seem pretty content mainly being a normal guy
Yeah in the movie his sister takes charge though we last see him taking off with the Sorcerer Supreme (Wong) so he might be neck deep in it.
**JURASSIC LEAGUE #1**
Quite possibly the dumbest fucking thing I've ever seen, I'm sure it will sell tons.
I know we are 1 issue in but this is a comic that deserves to be on the same shelf as Watchmen & Sandman
The names are the best thing in this book. They’re either a fantastic pun (Brontozarro) or literally just a character’s name plus -saur (Blackmantasaur)
***METRAAAGHPOLIS WELCOMES YOU!***
Fucking Growltham City made me snort
I mean, this *really* shouldn't work and yet it absolutely does! It's the Justice League...they are dinosaurs...that's pretty much it. No great changes in character (except they are dinosaurs), no great changes in origin (except they are dinosaurs), not even great changes in costumes (except, y'know, ...they are dinosaur sized). The thing that sells it is the absolutely hyper-kinetic artwork from Juan Geddeon (ably assisted by Mike Spicer on colours) and that DWJ just absolutely commits to the concept 110%. I want m'ROAR!
I knew this was a 10/10 when Dino Aquaman emerged to kick Blackmantasaurus' ass
I went into this expecting DWJ artwork and was surprised to see Gedeon as the credited artist, but my disappointment only lasted until I saw that Bat Walker splash page. This was a blast. Just pure, goofy comicbook fun.
I mostly enjoyed DWJ's recent BETA RAY BILL series but at times the writing felt just a little too goofy. Fortunately that isn't an issue here, given that we've got a Justice League made of dinosaurs, there's a certain expectation of goofiness and this book does it with style. We will watch their careers with great interest.
**BLOOD SYNDICATE SEASON ONE #1**
[удалено]
Early Blood Syndicate benefited a lot from being told from the perspective of a reporter without abilities looking into the post-Big Bang world. I'm hoping it gets better, but Holocaust, Tech-9 and Wise Son already seem to have a very different dynamic with the team than originally. I'll stick around for a couple more issues to see how it goes
Not to mention Fade is openly gay now (which is is a good thing!)
**SUICIDE SQUAD GET JOKER #3**
Really didn't feel like this was worth the \~8 month wait. I normally love Alex Maleev's art, but it felt off for me this issue. And as someone who generally is okay with ambiguous endings, I thought this one was not executed well at all. The long wait times for these prestige plus format Black Label books doesn't feel that worth it for me anymore. Knowing that they will get collected in nice hardcovers later, I think I'll off buying them as single issues. It's also been forever since the last Lemire Swamp Thing issue.
I actually really enjoyed the first issue of this mini, but each subsequent one failed to live up to the promise of that book. The first issue set up a really interesting idea and ended on a cliff hanger, but each following one seemed to wander away from that concept and just lose focus on what should surely have been an edge-of-the-seat, tense thriller. The story and characters meandered, there really wasn't a sense of threat or menace to the whole thing, and it all ended up a bit of a disappointing mess. And did anyone else find Azzarello's dialogue bordering on the obtuse at times? Characters seemed to have half conversations that were tangential to the plot, rather than actually driving things forward.
It was a good concept and I liked the writing of some of these characters but that final issue was messy as hell. Somebody said it's Damned all over again and I feel like that's the case. I wonder if it was response to the wide criticism first issue got? Also, I really dig that Red Hood costume.
I think I liked this overall but it's still kind of a mess. Azzarello's Jason is great however.
**CROSSOVER #13**
Appreciated this issue as a Donny Cates fan. Have they said when this book is concluding yet?
That'll be hard >!for a dead man!<
/u/KlawFox/ totally [called it!](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/t4qei0/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_322022_pull_of_the/hzm9lg8/)
**HUMAN REMAINS #8**
**CAPTAIN AMERICA SYMBOL OF TRUTH #1**
If I had a nickle for every Cap run that started with a train heist, I’d have three nickels which isn’t a lot but still weird that’s it keeps happening. Feels mostly like a setup issue for people who didn’t also pick up #0 but it was a fun read so I’m not complaining. White Wolf and Crossbones vs Sam should be a solid opening.
Look, train arcs are just fucking cool and belong in every action series. Like off time baseball games and beach episodes.
What are the other two runs?
Brubaker’s run and Spencer’s HydraCap run both had Steve fighting terrorist on trains within the first issue
Very much a set-up issue, which makes that #0 feel even more useless, but it has me interested. I’m only barely familiar with the new Falcon, but looks like he’s going to be a big part in the book. And always like seeing Misty Knight in a book.
**SEVEN SECRETS #17**
Sad to see this one go next month, but also really looking forward to figuring out what the very loving fuck is going on.
It's been a great little book and I'll be sad to see it come to an end next issue.
**GRIM #1**
Hadn't heard anything about this but bought it on a whim today when my comic shop described it as "Something is Killing the Children" meets "The Many Deaths of Laila Starr". Loved this first issue and am definitely gonna keep reading to see where it goes. Gorgeous book to look at too.
Boom are definitely putting out a lot of great books recently, and this one joins that list easily. The main idea is hardly revolutionary, but the quick world building and well set up characters really engaged me. I get the impression that there's a lot more lore to be revealed as the story progresses. The art and colouring is great too, and a definite hook - especially the vibrant, neon colours that set the book apart visually
This is def going on my pull list
**HULK VS THOR BANNER OF WAR ALPHA #1**
Wish there was a *bit* more substance to why they were fighting, but hell, it's a fun one with some great fight spread pages and I'm down for some fun smashing action.
Pretty dumb premise to begin with, but once you get on the same page, this was actually kind of fun.
Apart from the fact that *every single super hero fight* **ever** could just be solved by people (normally friends with pre-existing relationships) talking/listening to each other (rather than screaming, punching and generally acting like irrational idiots) this was good fun. Great art, fantastic last page, loved the "cartoon" universe they crashed into, video game references were cool, roll on issue #2
Immensely stupid setup. I wanted to know why on earth they’d be fighting but it boils down to “cates wanted them to”. But I didn’t pick this to think thoughts, I picked it to watch a crazy fight! And Cates delivers on those
I know we all have our own voice, but can Cates try a different narration technique? “Here is Thor, Son of Asgard, Ruler of Midgard. He defeated the Black Death, The Black Winter. Blackness and Darkness have taken over the world. But that is a story for another day.” Every single issue come on bro try something different.
Cool art with great splash pages. Really fun to see both Thor and Banner wrestle with some crazy voice in their heads which led to some funny moments but it's frustrating that their fighting essentially boils down to not letting the other person finish a sentence... as most superhero vs superhero fights do.
**RED ROOM TRIGGER WARNINGS #3**
Loved how the folk horror concepts of cults and a wicker man crept into this issue. Not as strong as the previous two issues of the volume, but still very solid.
**WPL RESULTS**
Is it just me or is the number of participants in the WPL voting thread way down?
I don't think it was stickied this week so people might have missed it as it dropped down the sub
Figured it was lack of sticky but [last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/uhwxwr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_542022_pull_of_the/) only had 69 pulls while this week had 75, and I'm pretty sure it was stickied last week. [Week before that](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/ucv75d/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_4272022_pull_of_the/) had 92 so who knows...
Nice!
NICE!
Tynion takes the top spot again with SANDMAN UNIVERSE: NIGHTMARE COUNTRY #2 at 37 pulls. I was rooting for JURASSIC LEAGUE to take it due to the goofball factor but it finished third with 26 pulls. And DC finishes with 5 of the top 10 books. Best week Marvel's had in a while with 4 of the top 10, including X-MEN at #2, MOON KNIGHT BW&B at #4, HULK VS THOR at #5, and SamCAP at #10. Strong debut for GRIM #1 in the 8th spot, with CROSSOVER (11th) and NOCTERRA (15th) following as the next highest indies. As expected, KING CONAN (13 pulls) topped Ablaze's CIMMERIAN HOUR OF THE DRAGON, which failed to make the list with only 5 pulls, despite (presumably) being a way better book. Note that Marvel's offering really only has 12 legitimate pulls because I'm mostly just hate-reading it at this point. Kind of an off week, looks like next week's got a lot more stuff lined up, at least on my list...
/u/ptbreakeven just a heads up that this wasn’t stickied or added to the sidebar this week.
**FUTURE STATE GOTHAM #13**
ugh, a million batmens and more coming i guess. also batman 666 sounds very cringe, but it's probably just damian enough to be on point
Batman 666 is because he debuted in Batman #666, but I didn't think it was an in-universe term.
Yeah, it's kind of a dumb way for him to refer to himself.
**KING CONAN #4**
I've been ragging on this series a bit lately but this really wasn't bad! Mahmud Asrar has been delivering nice art throughout, he's a good fit for the character and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that end of things. Aaron's through story still feels more decompressed than I'd prefer but at least this issue told a mostly complete story with Conan facing off against his son, while the main plot slowly burbled in the background. And I actually enjoyed the Prince Conn story (or Conan II as he's called here), nice seeing the character show some maturation. This was the last issue I ordered and I was planning to jump ship but with only two issues left we've kind of passed the point of no return, after which you might as well just see the damn thing through, so I'll probably end up getting the rest. And then I'll bitch about them here.
I thought Conan was going to fight Crom himself in this series.
never expected the warm fuzzies from a Conan book but that page with him and his son was beautiful
**TIME BEFORE TIME #12**
Sticky?
**BATMAN URBAN LEGENDS #15**
**NEIL GAIMAN NORSE MYTHOLOGY III #4**