U Talkin' Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head?
There were many great comics released in the hell year two thousand and twenty. Fun comics. Cool comics. Provocative comics. Comics that made you laugh. Comics that made you cry. Comics that made you think. In fact, it can now be said that there were enough good comics released over the course of the past year to fill an easily-digestible top ten list. And this, in spite of everything the year had wrought upon us, was an encouraging sign. That despite world-shattering events and massive upheaval across the industry, comics were still comics, and that, turns out, was still pretty good.
So, of course, the comics internet chose to go into two thousand and twenty-one arguing about the main story in May 2020’s Venom #25, by Mark Bagley, Donny Cates, Frank Martin and Andy Owens, featuring a two-page Ryan Stegman spread teasing out the then-upcoming King in Black storyline. And even then, not the whole issue, just the opening three pages, where Eddie Brock talks to an unseen someone about his many recent tribulations, framed by the question of “Who am I compared to that ol’ Spidered-Man?”.
Now, I could apply my trade to this. I could, if I wanted to, talk of general storytelling principles like “show, don’t tell”. I could, at a push, go into what Mark Bagley’s use of the same six-panel layout throughout the issue does to the storytelling. Or, and hear me out here: I could skip over all that nonsense, and get to the one worthwhile part of this whole controversy, while I’m still capable of forming coherent thoughts. Here goes: while the issue tries (and, because of a limited storytelling scope, fails) to evoke the classic Spider-Man/Venom showdowns of the past to frame Eddie Brock’s current strife, it’s succeeded at recalling in the minds of many the controversial 2018 DC Comics event miniseries “Heroes in Crisis”. This inspired me to re-read the controversial 2018 DC Comics event miniseries “Heroes in Crisis”, in search of any thematic or formal similarities.
I didn’t find any such similarities. But I did have a grand old time. “Heroes in Crisis” is impeccably paced, and for every page of strict 9-panel grid single character talking heads, there’s at least two pages of mind-blowing Clay Mann body fiction. Pure genre bliss; the book just MOVES from one place to the next and it’s all on THAT level. It’s not even just Clay Mann. Yeah you might remember the Mitch Gerads parts and how they expertly wield imagery for effect, but it’s also got Jorge Fornes, Travis Moore and Lee Weeks doing their thing. It’s beautiful. It’s provocative. It’s superhero giallo about a crisis in comics that turns into a crisis in masculinity. I love it! I just love it!
And so, here is the one lesson to be drawn from the whole ordeal: “Heroes in Crisis” is a fucking great comic. I was right all along. Again and always, I win. NOW ON TO THE REGULAR BUSINESS.
HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE COMICS: WHY READ CRITICS THAT TELL YOU YOUR OPINION IS CORRECT, WHEN YOU COULD READ CRITICS THAT TELL YOU MY OPINION IS CORRECT?
The one thing I can say with absolute certainty of Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 is that, uncontrovertibly, it happened. An entire event devoted to the concept of happening, aggressively reminding you of its happening with every affirmation that it happened on every happening page, happened. If you say that this, or, for that matter, any other comic book, ever, did not happen, you’re wrong. It all happened, and the fact of it happening is more important than literally anything else. Certainly more important than why it happened, how it happened, when it happened, or anything that would make anyone care, for any reason.
To be clear: this is not a bad comic. It can’t be a bad comic, because its three pencillers (Greg Capullo, Bryan Hitch, and Yannick Paquette) could make a good comic in their sleep, with their hands tied behind their back, and all their pencils replaced by cocktail sausages. It’s just offensively there, with flashes of perfect comic book brilliance showing up at seemingly random, keeping it all very frustrating. It could have been better! It should have been better! (Also the Batman who Laughs is good, actually, it’s Comic Book Twitter in Freddy Krueger form, but in the grand scheme of everything, that’s not even worth arguing.)
A big surprise I had this week was the overwhelming feeling of familiarity I had reading Eternals #1. It’s about a newly-reborn trickster god archetype navigating the circumstances of their rebirth with the help of an aloof older brother-type figure with shiny blond hair, all the while getting accused of doing bad crimes. Also, despite the mythological grandeur of its setting, it’s got a playful and irreverent tone, indulging in the occasional pop culture reference and other flights of light whimsy. And it’s all based on a Jack Kirby comic. Bless you, Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribic, you’ve made a new Journey Into Mystery. You’ve suckered Marvel into giving a blockbuster movie-tie-in launch to a spiritual sequel to my favorite emo epic, and I love you for it. But besides me, who is it for? Why do I feel like this is too beautiful to last?
Absent an answer to this, I’m just gonna enjoy myself. I’m gonna get lost in Esad Ribic’s maximalism. I’m gonna get my mind exploded from the scale of it all, and I’m gonna love it all the way. Sorry this isn’t more objective, but the heart wants what the heart wants.
Meanwhile, all the way in the year two thousand, it’s time for the first week of the Future State Roundup. But before we get to the roll call, let’s give a hand to the week’s MVP: Tamra Bonvillain. The neon-lit near-future is an aesthetic that’s been done to death, and yet: her color work on The Next Batman and Harley Quinn is so bold, so incandescent, and yet so much its own thing, that it’s honestly just iconic? Jordie Bellaire and Gabe Eltaeb’s work in the other two features of The Next Batman feels like it’s taking the cues from her direction, and staking that kind of ownership over a line’s entire look? That’s the kind of power move we love and respect. Tamra Bonvillain was ahead of her time when she explored similar textures with Ramon Villalobos and David Walker on Nighthawk, and, somehow, years later, she’s still ahead of everyone else. Superstar work, top marks all around.
So yeah, obviously, The Next Batman is a highlight. For the price of two comics, you get three comics, and all of them kinda slap? The main story combines John Ridley’s lived-in world-weariness with Nick Derrington’s seemingly effortless grace, to deliver incredibly-paced vignettes of life in the Gotham police state. The second story is a more standard Outsiders affair, done in incredible kinetic style by Sumit Kumar, and it’s worth the price of admission just for the two-page spread of Katana fighting her way through a building. The final story reinvents the residents of Arkham Asylum as a cyberpunk court of King Arthur, and if that’s not enough to get your engine running, maybe comics aren’t for you.
As for Harley Quinn? Complicated feelings. Simone DiMeo is mind-blowing as usual, including a spread that seamlessly crosses two different timelines with one another, and Stephanie Phillips has the voice down pat, but at the end of the day, it’s a comic about Harley Quinn being a cop and, as good as everything else is, the principle of the thing just rubs me the wrong way.
For the rest of them, let’s do quick hits, shall we? Swamp Thing: fucking beautiful, amazing take on a post-apocalyptic story with an existential nightmare twist that is very on-brand. Love it to bits, you already knew it was gonna rule, you don’t need my gushing. Wonder Woman: just a fun time; looks good as hell because Joelle Jones can’t not make it look good as hell. Fun ideas and dynamics, and a good counterpoint to the many fucked-up futures in the line already. The Flash: it’s Silver Age gone wrong in a myriad of terrible ways, all delightfully illustrated by Dave Eaglesham. If you’re a total freak that lives for misery and death, like I am, you’re gonna LOVE it. Superman of Metropolis: it’s the one that’s kind of a dud. It tries splitting the difference between the hopefulness of Superman and a dark future high concept about AI gone rogue, with one too many implausible future concepts. The backups are okay. Don’t really have anything else to say. Sorry!
And that’s how we do it, folks! HYBC will return, and maybe this time I’ll get all my comics in time, because, wouldn’t you know it, a whole bunch of them got stuck in the UK because of that new double-Rona that they have over there. Hateful stuff. Anyway, tell your friends! I’m gonna do this forever! Welcome to hell! And before it’s too late: HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE COMICS.