It’s Endgame time! Who’s going to see it today and how many times will you see it this weekend? While you check your tickets, here’s your comic news and reviews from around the web in our morning roundup.
Amnesty International – We offer our take on the worst human rights abusers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Thoughts?
Reviews
Comic Attack – Fairlady #1
Newsarama – Heroes in Crisis #8
The Beat – Heroes in Crisis #8
Comics Bulletin – When I Arrived at the Castle
You’ve seen all the clues. You’ve heard the testimony and eavesdropped on the secret confessions of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes. Now, with the killer revealed, it’s time to find out why. What could have driven a hero to the brink, to turn a savior into a murderer? Rifts will form between old allies, and the trinity of Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman will have their leadership challenged and will question their own judgment. Sanctuary has become something they never imagined…and it’s still potentially carrying on without them!
Heroes in Crisis #8 will light up comic fandom with the reveal as to who the murderer is and what happened in Sanctuary. For seven issues there’s been hints and nods as to who was behind it all and now we know the truth.
Without spoiling the reveal, writer Tom King has taken a hero and sullied them in a way that hearkens back to the grim and gritty days of comics of the past which is not necessarily a good thing. The reveal, as presented, feels more like an odd stunt and choice based on this character’s recent history. There’s some logic there but there’s so much “why” surrounding it all, hopefully to be explored later.
But, where King both succeeds and fails is in the “why” of the action. Heroes in Crisis is supposed to be about heroes dealing with post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. There are echoes here of real life heroes who have snapped in a blind accident hurting others or even killing others or themselves. It’s a real world problem and could have been an amazing exploration. But, the reveal is fumbled with lots of elements that are a bit too “comicbooky.”
Instead of keeping the story simple that this person snaps we get things dealing with their powers that put them over the line and in a way causes them to snap. It goes from a hero with PTSD who has a horrible accident to a hero who becomes a murderer. The sympathy isn’t present. The empathy isn’t there. It feels like shock for shock’s sake.
Art duties by Mitch Gerads and Travis Moore, with coloring by Gerads and lettering by Clayton Cowles, is fantastic as expected. There’s a simplicity to it all as the “how” of the murders is explained and the focus remains on the murderer himself. It’s a clear choice as he goes through how everything was done and what made him snap.
The issue is one that I both love and hate. There’s so much right and so much wrong at the same time. This will easily be the most controversial superhero comic of the year and folks will be up in arms. Unfortunately, that emotion is what stands out most of the issue. For a series about PTSD it has been hit and miss as far as connecting emotionally with those hurting and this issue is a prime example of that flaw.
Story: Tom King Art: Mitch Gerads, Travis Moore
Color: Mitch Gerads Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Story: 6.0 Art: 8.15 Overall: 6.0 Recommendation: Read
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Heroes in Crisis #8 (of 9)
(W) Tom King (A) Clay Mann (A/CA) Mitch Gerads
In Shops: Apr 24, 2019
SRP: $3.99
You’ve seen all the clues. You’ve heard the testimony and eavesdropped on the secret confessions of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes. Now, with the killer revealed, it’s time to find out why. What could have driven a hero to the brink, to turn a savior into a murderer? Rifts will form between old allies, and the trinity of Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman will have their leadership challenged and will question their own judgment. Sanctuary has become something they never imagined…and it’s still potentially carrying on without them!
Wednesdays are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.
Achilles Inc. #1 (Source Point Press) – Some of the world has gained superpowers and formed a union and upended blue collar jobs and society as a whole. A really interesting concept.
Ascender #1 (Image Comics) – If you read Descender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen you’ll know why we’re excited for this sequel set ten years after where magic has taken the place of machinery!
Criminal #4 (Image Comics) – We’re big fans of noir but even beyond that, this is one of the best monthly series out there. This standalone is a perfect issue to check out.
Dick Tracy Forever #1 (IDW Publishing) – There’s been some weirdness about getting a Dick Tracy comic to the shelf, but we want to check out this latest take by Michael Avon Oeming.
Grace: Based on Jeff Buckley’s Story (First Second) – A graphic novel biography of the musician that includes archival material provided by his mother.
Heroes in Crisis #8 (DC Comics) – Yes the series is all over the place in quality but we’ve come this far and you better believe we’re hyped for the second to last issue.
Princeless Book 8 Princesses #1 (Action Lab Entertainment) – This series never dissapoints with its spin on the “princess” trope. A new volume is a new opportunity to check it out!
Punk Mambo #1 (Valiant) – Cullen Bunn taking on this characters is more than enough to get us excited to check it out.
The Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities (Oni Press) – For those that don’t know, this is a fantastic guide to help you through to understand it all.
Star Trek: Year Five #1 (IDW Publishing) – A new ongoing series focusing on the fifth year of their mission. This one has been hyped up a lot as far as big things for Star Trek and comics.
Heroes in Crisis has been up and down in quality delivering a comic that at times nails its concept of heroes dealing with PTSD and at other times coming close to torture porn. Heroes in Crisis #7 gets things a bit back on track as the series begins to wrap up with an issue that focuses a bit on exactly what happened but also the trauma of three characters, Wally West, Booster Gold, and Harley Quinn.
Writer Tom King focuses the issue a bit revolving around those three characters at it explores each of their trauma while also driving the story forward. It’s what the series was pitched as and much more of what I expected.
Through various segments we see Wally West discuss his issues and dealing with them in a way using his powers. The empathy towards him builds until that final page where it’s hard to not feel sadness for his experience, especially about his possible death. I say possible as the issue touches on the time difference in bodies though doesn’t explain it yet. We also get some interesting things concerning Poison Ivy which points to the obvious that not everything we’ve witnessed in this series is as it seems and some of the deaths will be “undone” when things wrap up.
The rest of the comic mostly has to do with Booster Gold and Blue Beetle and Batgirl and Harley Quinn who have clashed as Harley and Booster battle each other. That too is cathartic in numerous ways as the two characters have their own breakdowns before getting their act together to eventually save the day. The highlight though is Batgirl and Blue Beetle who chat as Harley and Booster battle.
The art is split between Clay Mann, Travis Moore, and Jorge Fornes with color by Tomeu Morey and lettering by Clayton Cowles. Despite three different artists, the issue is smooth as far as look and there is some very solid pages and panels that’ll have you linger. Small artistic details add to the story enhancing the enjoyment and the emotional connection.
The issue gets back to basics in some ways exploring the emotional issues these three characters have due to their heroic nature and at the same time drives the murder mystery story. If only every issue was like this, the series would stand out more than it has and possibly have avoided its ups and downs in quality and focus.
Story: Tom King Art: Clay Mann, Travis Moore, Jorge Fornes
Color: Tomeu Morey Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Story: 7.75 Art: 8.15 Overall: 7.85 Recommendation: Read
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Heroes in Crisis #7
(W) Tom King (A) Clay Mann (CA) Mitch Gerads
In Shops: Mar 27, 2019
SRP: $3.99
The Trinity may have uncovered the true killer responsible for the deaths at Sanctuary, but the artificial intelligence that ran the institution is the one thing standing between them and the culprit. Now Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman must face off with their own creation-and face the consequences for what they created. Also, as the truth is uncovered, Booster and Harley go from being enemies to allies.
COMIC BOOK HAUL FEBRUARY 27TH 2019 – FLASH #65, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #16, HEROES IN CRISIS #6 & MORE!
Comic book haul for new comic book day February 27th 2019. I go over what I bought, including showing the covers, and give my short reviews and thoughts.
Get a deeper look into the inner workings of Sanctuary. When heroes visited the facility, they relived their trauma through virtual reality, contending with the events that brought them there in the hope of reaching a meaningful resolution. That is, until the trauma took over and escalated these personal events into a full-blown crisis! Find out what pushed one of the superheroes over the edge and how it broke the machine.
For five issues we’ve gotten fake outs and twists and turns teasing us as to who the killer is and Heroes in Crisis #6 seems to deliver us the answer… which clearly isn’t the answer.
Written by Tom King, Heroes in Crisis #6 is an issue focused on three characters dealing with their trauma showing us how Sanctuary treats individuals using virtual reality. It’s something we’ve seen before and feels like a filler issue used because a few elements couldn’t be filled in elsewhere. It’s the first issue where I don’t feel like it adds much to the story beyond two things. The tragedy is shallow, the empathy little, and the fakeouts obvious.
The issue seems to finally answer who killed those staying at the facility which we know isn’t the answer and feels like yet another fakeout. It also points to who I’ve thought was the killer from the beginning and if it is, the event will feel more hollow than thoughtful.
Heroes in Crisis started with interesting promise of the exploration of exploring PTSD in heroes but at this point it feels like a dragged out murder mystery forgetting the tragedy we saw in those first few issues. Instead we get the same played out experiences as if we ourselves are placed in Sanctuary to experience trauma ourselves. And maybe that’s the point? But still, there’s something missing in this issue in both its presentation and what it lacks in adding to the overall narrative. It feels like we’ve seen most of this with different characters. When it comes to the exploration of Sanctuary it doesn’t add anything new.
The art mainly by Mitch Gerads is good. Gerads is always fantastic in that way and with some pages by Clay Mann the art is the most interesting thing about the comic begging us to look for visual hints and clues. Unfortunately that’s mostly blunt in many ways lacking finesse that has delivered for the previous five issues.
Heroes in Crisis #6 feels like a bad detour as the series drifts further away from the concept of heroes dealing with trauma. As a piece of the greater narrative the issue is fine but as we see in a few panels, the torture porn aspect of it all is emphasized here. It shifts from an attempt at empathy to an Eli Roth film.
We’ll see where the next few issues take us but this feels like a distraction. An added on issue that in the end it’s unsure as to what exactly to do with. It’s bloat that shifts the tone and focus of the story and not for the better.
Story: Tom King Art: Clay Mann, Mitch Gerads
Color: Mitch Gerads, Tomeu Morey Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Story: 5.0 Art: 7.75 Overall: 5.0 Recommendation: Pass
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Heroes in Crisis #6
(W) Tom King (A/CA) Mitch Gerads
RATED T+
In Shops: Feb 27, 2019
SRP: $3.99
Get a deeper look into the inner workings of Sanctuary. When heroes visited the facility, they relived their trauma through virtual reality, contending with the events that brought them there in the hope of reaching a meaningful resolution. That is, until the trauma took over and escalated these personal events into a full-blown crisis! Find out what pushed one of the superheroes over the edge and how it broke the machine. This special issue reunites the Eisner Award-winning MISTER MIRACLE team of writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads!
Wednesdays are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.
The Avant-Guards #2 (BOOM! Studios) – The first issue of this series was excellent. The focus on building of an extracurricular college basketball team is so much fun.
Captain America #8 (Marvel) – Ta-Nehisi Coates has been putting together an epic Captain America run that dips into the past while forging something new for the future.
Daredevil #2 (Marvel) – The first issue blew us away and we’re expecting no less from the second.
The Forgotten Queen #1 (Valiant) – A whole new series from Valiant that’s really something different from them and we’re excited.
Heroes in Crisis #6 (DC Comics) – The event is controversial but we really want to see where it all goes.
Martian Manhunter #3 (DC Comics) – The maxi-series has been fantastic so far. It’s given us a new take on the classic character focusing on his origin and tragedy but also the impact today.
Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #2 (Dynamite Entertainment) – The character is updated and it’s fantastic.
Star Trek: Q Conflict #2 (IDW Publishing) – The first issue was fun bringing together the crews from the various series. How they all interact will be the draw of this series.
Sweetie #1 (Action Lab Entertainment) – This series focused on a young girl that’s a comic superfan seems like it’ll be a lot of fun.
X-Force #3 (Marvel) – The first two issues have felt like a nice return of X-Force and the team dynamic has been solid. Add in Ahab and the return of Stryfe and we’re all in.
