Mini Reviews and Recommendations For The Week Ending 05/21/2021
Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling short reviews from the staff of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full review for. Given the lack of new comics, expect this weekly update to begin featuring comics that we think you’ll enjoy while you can’t get anything new to read – only new to you.
These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.
Logan
Nightwing #80 (DC)– One of the Dick Grayson’s strengths is that he has a network of friends and allies in the DC Universe that he gets help from on missions, and he’s making new friends. Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, and a literally electrifying Adriano Lucas lean on this character trait in Nightwing #80 as he, Tim Drake, and Barbara Gordon try to find a serial killer who’s taking out the hearts of homeless people. Redondo uses soft lines and open facial expressions to show how sad Dick is that a kid named Elliott, who he helped get food and hotel room last issue, had to see his father murdered and his heart removed. However, Bruno Redondo can also do comedy and action too drawing a frustrated chibi Oracle when Tim starts to pry about their relationship status, and he and Lucas are a true Bash Brothers team in the fighting video game-worthy choreography of Dick and Tim taking down a couple of Blockbuster’s henchmen. Empathetic scripting from Tom Taylor, kick-ass action sequences from Redondo and Adriano Lucas, and a cute dog to top things off, and Nightwing is back to being one of my favorite DC titles. Overall: 8.8 Verdict: Buy
Wonder Girl #1 (DC)– Wonder Girl #1 is part character intro, part table-setting intrigue, and 100% a visual tour de force from Joelle Jones and Jordie Bellaire. Jones handles the writing duties too, and she gives Yara Flor just as much charisma and personality as she had in Future State. However, her place in the DC Universe (As seen in a truly breathtaking splash page from Joelle Jones.) isn’t set in stone, and Wonder Girl #1 shows various Amazon and divine factions maneuvering and trying to get her while Yara just wants to have a nice trip to Brazil. Wonder Girl hits a range of tones from jarring scarlets from Bellaire and intense visuals during Yara’s “origin” sequence to breezy fun as she dresses down a vlogger. My one qualm with the book is that the scenes with the different factions don’t flow as well as the scenes with Yara and feel like teaser trailer rather than compelling foreshadowing. Overall: 8.0 Verdict: Buy
Wonder Girl #1 (DC)– Wonder Girl #1 is part character intro, part table-setting intrigue, and 100% a visual tour de force from Joelle Jones and Jordie Bellaire. Jones handles the writing duties too, and she gives Yara Flor just as much charisma and personality as she had in Future State. However, her place in the DC Universe (As seen in a truly breathtaking splash page from Joelle Jones.) isn’t set in stone, and Wonder Girl #1 shows various Amazon and divine factions maneuvering and trying to get her while Yara just wants to have a nice trip to Brazil. Wonder Girl hits a range of tones from jarring scarlets from Bellaire and intense visuals during Yara’s “origin” sequence to breezy fun as she dresses down a vlogger. My one qualm with the book is that the scenes with the different factions don’t flow as well as the scenes with Yara and feel like teaser trailer rather than compelling foreshadowing. Overall: 8.0 Verdict: Buy
The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #2 (BOOM!)– Another intelligent, emotional issue of what is turning into a potential modern classic from Ram V and Filipe Andrade. V focuses on class differences, the curiosity of a child, and a goddess experiencing mortality yet again with the help of Andrade’s bendy figure work, grids, and flat colors. The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #2 is centered around the idea that death isn’t physical death, but when the person with the last memory of you passes away. The idea of Death herself experiencing a funeral is a poignant one, and this is definitely a comic to sit with and pore over Ram V’s beautiful words and Filipe Andrade’s beautiful compositions and color palettes. Overall: 9.4 Verdict: Buy
Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #3 (Oni Press)– Jonna #3 features the same high energy line work and layouts from Chris Samnee as Jonna continues to bound from rock to rock looking water, for her and Rainbow’s dad, or maybe just a monster to fight. However, he and co-writer Laura Samnee use this issue to supply much-needed backstory about this post-apocalyptic world and introduce Jonna and Rainbow to some fellow survivors. There’s a real dissonance between Jonna making shapes against the cave wall and talking about punching monsters, and the rest of the survivors’ very serious discussions about who they’ve lost. The Samnees and skilled colorist Matthew Wilson do a good job of showing how Jonna is really just a kid who thinks this is one big adventure instead of not how the world should be. After the previous action-driven two issues that focus mainly on Jonna and Rainbow’s relationship , the time is perfect for expanding the world of this comic. The Samnees time each piece of information very well and also throw in a killer cliffhanger. Overall: 8.8 Verdict: Buy
Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 (Marvel)– Mark Russell, Sean Izaakse, and Nolan Woodard’s Fantastic Four aging in real time kicks off with a retelling of their classic origin. However, Russell and Izaakse immediately throw spanners in the work by having Reed Richards have a vision of Galactus while he’s bathed with cosmic rays and becomes Mr. Fantastic. This is definitely an oversimplification, but the 1960s in the United States were defined by fear whether of the USSR and “communists”, fear of people with a different skin color than you, or even fear of that guy down the street, who had longer hair and listened to different music than you. Russell and Izaakse tap into this existential fear in Fantastic Four: Life Story between all the parades, superhero montages, and celebrity cameos. Basically, the universe is chaotic and doesn’t give a shit about us, but we can still care about helping our fellow human beings and being good people. Finally, I really enjoyed how Mark Russell wrote Ben Grimm as truly having an antagonistic relationship with Reed Richards and only pretending to like the team for the cameras because the accident ruined his life and relationships. Overall: 8.3 Verdict: Buy
Well, there you have it, folks. The reviews we didn’t quite get a chance to write. See you next week!
Please note that with some of the above comics, Graphic Policy was provided FREE copies for review. Where we purchased the comics, you’ll see an asterisk (*). If you don’t see that, you can infer the comic was a review copy. In cases where we were provided a review copy and we also purchased the comic you’ll see two asterisks (**).
