Monday, May 21, 2018
Happy Victoria Day. Garden centres will be zoos today as flower aficionados dig in en masse now that the threat of frost is over (hopefully). I know I’ll be bending my back filling planters and tidying up the beds. But first we “walk the mountain” to pay our respects to the dearly departed. The May long weekend has many traditions and one of ours is to gather at Beechwood Cemetery to honour our ancestors.
I did not watch The Wedding. I was out on the lake catching fish while Harry and Meghan were getting hitched. Had a pretty good time and set a new high of 20 fish, beating the previous week’s 13. I went out again Sunday morning with my brother and niece. I always worry that kids won’t catch anything but Mya had horse shoes and caught the first fish and many more while we were out there. I can’t wait to get out again next Sunday.
Hunt for Wolverine: The Claws of a Killer #1 – Mariko Tamaki (writer) Butch Guice (pencils) Cam Smith (inks) Dan Brown (colours) VC’s Joe Sabino (letters). Not just one but a bunch of killers really. This team looking for Logan consists of Lady Deathstrike, Sabretooth and Daken, son of Wolverine. Unlike the other teams, this one wants Wolverine dead again. Why is not clearly defined. When zombies show up I decide that I can skip this 4-issue mini and not miss anything important.
New Challengers #1 – Scott Snyder & Aaron Gillespie (writers) Andy Kubert (pencils) Klaus Janson (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). The original Challengers of the Unknown were a team of male explorers created by Jack Kirby in 1957 who went around investigating X-Files types of phenomena. This new team is more diverse, made up of two men and two women. When you find out how you get picked to join this team you won’t want to be a part of these new Challengers. Their mysterious leader reminds me of the Chief from Doom Patrol, cold and calculating. He sends them on their first mission which puts them in danger of death right away. These are all brand new characters so it may take a few issues to warm up to them but I was suitably intrigued to give this new book a chance.
American Gods: My Ainsel #3 – Neil Gaiman (writer) P. Craig Russell (script & layouts) Scott Hampton (art) Jennifer T. Lange & Scott Hampton (colours) Rick Parker (letters). Shadow meets his neighbour in Lakeside. I found the character of Mister Wednesday quite fascinating in the book and I love how I can see him in this comic book. I have not seen the TV show.
All-New Wolverine #35 – Tom Taylor (writer) Ramon Rosanas (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC’s Cory Petit (letters). Old Woman Laura part 3. This is the last issue of Tom Taylor’s All-New Wolverine, I’m sad to say. Somebody dies here but don’t forget that this story takes place in a possible future. I loved seeing Miles Morales near the end. Never fear True Believers, Laura will be back on the racks in her new book soon. X-23 #1 goes on sale July 11 and will be done by Mariko Tamaki (writer) and Juann Cabal (art). I might have passed on checking it out based on Mariko’s “Hunt for Wolverine: The Claws of a Killer” but Juann Cabal’s art will make it impossible for me to leave it on the racks.
Batman #47 – Tom King (writer) Tony S. Daniel (art) Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki & Sandu Florea (inks) Tomeu Morey (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). The Gift finale. Y’see this? This right here is why I hate time travel stories. Booster explains his gift to Batman and Catwoman and it doesn’t make a lick of sense. I’m so glad this stupid story is over. I hope Booster isn’t invited to the wedding. Save the date: July 4, 2018.
Infinity Countdown: Daredevil #1 – Gerry Duggan (writer) Chris Sprouse, Phil Noto & Lee Ferguson (pencils) Scott Hanna, Karl Story, Phil Noto & Lee Ferguson (inks) Matt Yackey (colours) VC’s Clayton Cowles (letters). You open up the beautiful creepy cover by Clayton Crain and you get a smelly piece of cheese. I gave up on the Infinity Countdown story and I wasn’t going to read this one shot but I flipped through it and liked the art. I do read Daredevil’s book so I thought maybe I would be entertained at least. I was, but not in a good way. Imagine that Turk has gotten his hands on the Infinity stone that grants the owner telepathy. The low life ex-henchman for the Kingpin is going to use it to be crime boss of New York City. That’s all well and good but how he got the stone and who he gets to help with taking over the gangs made me groan with disappointment. This stone is supposed to be powered by the user’s mastery of Soul. Turk has a mastery of Soul? Maybe they mean soul food. I read who got the other stones at the front of this issue and I don’t think I’m going to spend any more time reading the other tie-ins. Reading this one and writing these thoughts down cost me 30 minutes that I’m never going to get back.
Justice League: No Justice #2 – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV & Joshua Williamson (writers) Francis Manapul & Marcus To (art) Hi-Fi (colours) AndWorld Design (letters). Four teams of super heroes and super villains must revive four trees on Colu in order to save the planet. Meanwhile back on Earth, Amanda Waller realizes that she screwed up royally and may have doomed Earth. This story seems similar to what just happened in Avengers: No Surrender but the art is nowhere near as nice. I’m going to let this one go and not finish the rest.
Kick-Ass #4 – Mark Millar (writer) John Romita Jr. (pencils) Peter Steigerwald (digital inks & colours) Megan Shirk (digital ink assistant) Beth Sotelo (colours assistant) John Workman (letters). Kick-Ass comes up with some inspired ways to get out of her dire predicament and also to explain her injuries. They’re far fetched but what do you expect in a comic book?
X-Men Red #4 – Tom Taylor (writer) Mahmud Asrar (art) Rain Beredo (colours) VC’s Cory Petit (letters). Cassandra Nova is leading the latest war against mutants and she’s got a very powerful weapon that she can arm her fellow homo sapiens with. The technology used to wipe out mutants has evolved from giant Sentinels over the years and now we’ve got nanotech implants called Sentinites. Cool eh?
Superman Special #1 – There are three stories in this $4.99 US Special.
“For Those Who Serve” by Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason (writers) Scott Godlewski (art) Gabe Eltaeb (colours) Rob Leigh (letters) has father and son returning to Dinosaur Island to fulfil a promise. Rescuing Captain Storm of the Losers teaches Jon some important lessons. When Captain Storm gets back to the real world it reminded me of Captain America just after he got thawed out. He’s a minor character but the story is fun if you like dinosaurs and zombies. Yes zombies.
“Strays and Strangers by Mark Russell (writer) Bryan Hitch (art) Alex Sinclair (colours) Tom Napolitano (letters) has Superman helping an alien sow bug and a few inhabitants of Earth. It goes to show what a swell guy Superman is.
“Decision” by Ian Flynn (writer) Kaare Andrews (art & colours) Tom Napolitano (letters) was the most interesting artistically and has a reformed super villain, the Atomic Skull, saving Superman from another super villain, Shockwave. There are trust issues.
All in all a nice read for Superman fans but I’m finding the Superman and Superboy stories to be getting a bit maudlin.
