Motherlands #6
(W) Si Spurrier (A) Rachael Stott (CA) Eric Canete
In Shops: Jun 27, 2018
SRP: $3.99
Heroes, villains, siblings. All these and more collide in the explosive conclusion of Vertigo’s acclaimed series, which finds Tabitha and her most-wanted-murderer-in-the-Multiverse brother Bubba learning the unbelievable truth about their mother, a secret that will turn this already mega-dysfunctional family upside down forever.
Motherlands #5
(W) Si Spurrier (A) Rachael Stott (CA) Eric Canete
In Shops: May 23, 2018
SRP: $3.99
At last, Tab has fallen upon her prey, the most wanted man in the multiverse: her own brother! But even mass murder isn’t enough to separate a child from his mother’s love when Selena raises arms against Tab to save her son! The way things are going, this family might obliterate each other before the treacherous bounty hunter Oona and the Multiversal Mafia get their chance.
Motherlands #4 (of 6)
(W) Si Spurrier (A) Rachael Stott (CA) Eric Canete
In Shops: Apr 25, 2018
SRP: $3.99
Hopeless! Schism! Mutual loathing! These are just some of the words to describe the state of Tab and Selena’s relationship when the mother-daughter duo’s forced to go their separate ways, lest their bitter memories of the past compel them to straight-up murder each other. But murder’s not off the table completely when Selena’s set upon by the Braintrust, a multiversal mafia to whom Selena’s in deep debt. If only she could remember why? The plot thickens as MOTHERLANDS drives toward its unbelievable climax.
Motherlands #3
(W) Si Spurrier (A) Rachael Stott (CA) Eric Canete
In Shops: Mar 28, 2018
SRP: $3.99
The series that The Daily Solicit Text Generator calls “the most dysfunctional mother-daughter duo since…um, EVER!” continues as Tabitha and Selena set their differences aside to survive a siege from competing bounty hunters and a vengeful multiverse mafia! Meanwhile, in the past, teenage Tab enters her rebellious phase as Selena falls from grace.
Motherlands #2 (of 6)
Story: Si Spurrier Art: Stephen Byrne Cover: Eric Canete
Color: Felipe Sobreiro, Stephen Byrne Letterer: Simon Bowland
Editor: Andy Khouri Associate Editor: Amedeo Turturro
In Shops: Feb 28, 2018
SRP: $3.99
After years of estrangement, Tab and her foul-mouthed mom Selena must work together to track the multiverse’s most wanted criminal! But in a city made of fungus, their hunt hits an immediate snag: our mother-daughter duo aren’t the only bounty hunters on the job…
Motherlands #1 is a pretty damn bleak mother/daughter story, and no one will be comparing it to Lady Bird any time soon. But writer Si Spurrier, artist Rachel Stott, and colorist Felipe Sobreiro capture a little of the attitude, piss, and vinegar of old school 2000 AD progs in a comic that Vertigo on the cover. They embrace the dystopia and a world that features psychic abilities and multiversal travel as well as reality television and nursing homes. After a flimsy flashback that does a decent job establishing the main “sci-fi” part of this new world and a tough, effective chase sequence, Motherlands finds its footing by honing in on the relationship between Tabitha and her mother, Selena, who are both trawlers aka interdimensional bounty hunters. However, Tabitha treats her job like a beat cop or something she does to pay rent and keep food on the table while Selena did hers to be famous like the Kim Kardashian of trawlers complete with fancy outfits, one liners, and interpersonal drama.
The grotesqueness of Spurrier’s writing matches both Stott’s art and the world of Motherlands. Most of the issue features Tabitha tracking a hapless criminal, who has a real back hair issue and spends the entire chase talking about how he used to masturbate to her mom when he was kid. It’s really demeaning for Tabitha, who claims that trawling is “just her job”, but has a little bit of pent-up resentment that she isn’t getting any fulfillment out of her life and gets compared to her mother all the time. Spurrier makes Tabitha’s mark one of the most annoying fuckers in the multiverse while Stott lets the reader earn a little catharsis as he takes two slugs in the knee cap and then gets his pelvis broken at the main hub where Tabitha collects her bounty. Sobreiro indulges in a little disgusting ketchup red for the scenes of violence while laying on a nostalgic, fresh shade of lipstick red for the flashbacks of Selena doing her thing. The past was definitely more glamorous if not more problematic.
Until the plot twist at the end, Motherlands #1 is by no means a hopeful or even fun comic book. However, in the tradition of the best science fiction, it is a fantastic metaphor for millennials and Baby Boomer’s attitude towards capitalism and by extension, work and life. Selena sees the life of a trawler and jumping between dimensions as highly exciting and mugs for the camera wearing sunglasses like a movie star while Tabitha wears more functional armor and hunts down a perp like she’s punching a time clock. She knows that she’s just a cog in a machine or a “clusterfuck” as one supporting character calls the hopping between various dimensions. Tabitha doesn’t try to fit her life into some kind of epic narrative like her narrative until the last few pages when things gets downright Skywalker-esque, but in a FUBAR kind of way.
Motherlands #1 is a rough bit of SF from a talented creative team, and with the lion’s share of the exposition and worldbuilding out of the way, Si Spurrier, Rachel Stott, and Felipe Sobreiro are free to lean on the prickly, yet interesting relationship between Selena and Tabitha as they hunt down one hell of a bounty in a multiverse that makes the multiverse in Rick and Morty look downright utopian. (I’ve never seen a single episode of that show so suck it, nerds.)
Story: Si Spurrier Art: Rachel Stott Colors: Felipe Sobreiro
Story: 7 Art: 8.2 Overall: 7.6 Recommendation: Read
Vertigo provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.
Motherlands #1 (of 6)
(W) Simon Spurrier (A) Rachael Stott (CA) Eric Canete
MATURE READERS
In Shops: Jan 31, 2018
SRP: $3.99
In a crazed future where unhinged technologies and interconnected parallel Earths have given rise to a spectacular class of super-criminal, the most beloved celebrities aren’t actors or rock stars, but the bounty hunters who traverse an exotic multiverse in search of impossible prey! But when the spotlight-shunning, strait-laced tracer known as Tab finds herself in an ultra-violent race for her greatest prize yet, she’s forced to work with her greatest enemy, the only person capable of IDing him: her own elderly, overbearing and hypercritical mother, who was once the most fabulous and celebrated bounty hunter of them all.
A sci-fi action comedy blacker than dragon s***, MOTHERLANDS is the dimension-hopping, criminal-blasting story of two extraordinary women written by Si Spurrier (SUICIDE SQUAD, The Spire) with art by Rachael Stott (Star Trek/Planet of the Apes, Sex Criminals).
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 are choosing up to five books and why they’re choosing the books. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.
Jon
Top Pick: Silencer #1 (DC Comics) – Dan Abnett is always good and John Romita Jr’s art looks better than it has in years. Of all the New Age of Heroes line this one probably interested me the least but I am definitely in.
Detective Comics Annual #1 (DC Comics) – James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows at the top of their game and a new origin of one of my favorite Batman villains? Yes, please.
Eternal (Black Mask Studios) – A beautifully drawn and colored graphic novella that virtually demands to be re-read.
Brett
Top Pick: Black [AF]: America’s Sweetheart (Black Mask Studios) – The world of Black expands with this first spin-off a graphic novel that’s really interesting and entertaining. Black is a world where only Black individuals have superpowers. You can imagine the implications of that. Where the first volume was all about that truth coming out and the conspiracy hiding it ending, this volume moves beyond that… and adds a hell of a twist. Definitely catching me off guard, this is a sequel that improves upon the original.
Dark Ark #5 (AfterShock Comics) – The series about that “other arc” continues and I’m fascinated to see where this dark Biblical story goes.
Dark Nights: Metal #5 (DC Comics) – Things really get crazy here as things go from bad to worse. It lives up to the word “dark.” For an “event,” this series has delivered.
DC Super Hero Girls: Date With Disaster (DC Comics) – I love this all ages series and this latest graphic novel is adorable.
JLA/Doom Patrol Special #1 (DC Comics/DC’s Young Animal) – “Milk Wars” begins! I have no idea what this is about or what to expect, but I’m intrigued.
Motherlands #1 (Vertigo) – A future where bounty hunters are celebrities and parallel worlds exist. It all sounds really interesting and fun.
Quantum and Woody #2 (Valiant) – Speaking of fun… the worst superhero partners in the world are also the most entertaining. Superhero action that constantly puts a smile to my face and gets me to laugh. So happy these two are back.
It’s new comic book day tomorrow! What’s everyone excited for? What do you plan on getting? Sound off in the comments below! While you decide on that, here’s some comic news and reviews from around the web.
The Comichron – Bookscan graphic novels off 5% in 2017; a look at GN units across time – If it’s not just comic shops…
ComicBook – TNT Parts Ways With ‘Snowpiercer’ Showrunner – Well that was quick.
Reviews
Talking Comics – Batman #39
Talking Comics – Days of Hate #1
Newsarama – Motherlands #1
The Vertigo/DC’s Young Animal panel at New York Comic Con brought interesting news for each of the imprints.
Vertigo writers John Ridley and Tim Seeley shared new details about their series, while creative teams Si Spurrier & Rachael Stott and Joshua Williamson & Riley Rossmo announced their projects being released this winter.
Motherlands, from writer Si Spurrier and artist Rachael Stott, is a sci-fi series set in a future where universe-hopping bounty hunters are the new celebrities. A spotlight-shunning hunter named Tab finds herself in a race for her greatest prize yet, but to ID her target she’ll have to work with her fiercest rival and the most famous bounty hunter of all time—her mother. The six-issue series launches January 31.
Deathbed, from writer Joshua Williamson and artist Riley Rossmo, follows a former adventurer turned recluse who has re-emerged 20 years later. When reporter Valentine Richards is hired to get his story, she soon finds herself in an insane world of violence and supernatural adventure. The six-issue series begins February 21.
Plus, the weird and popular DC’s Young Animal imprint, curated by My Chemical Romance’s frontman Gerard Way, continues to expand its list of titles and announced the remaining DC/DC’s Young Animal crossover issues. Doom Patrol artist Nick Derington discussed his work on the series, with writer Steve Orlando sharing more details for the first issue of “Milk Wars,” and new series writer Magdalene Visaggio giving an early look at her upcoming project:
“Milk Wars” will mash up DC’s Young Animal with characters from the DC Universe, beginning with a Justice League/Doom Patrol Special from Orlando and Way, followed by Shade, The Changing Girl/Wonder Woman Special, Mother Panic/Batman Special, Cave Carson/Swamp Thing Special and Doom Patrol/Justice League Special. The weekly crossover adventure begins January 31.
Eternity Girl, the new miniseries from Eisner and GLAAD-nominated writer Magdalene Visaggio and Eisner award-winning artist Sonny Liew follows Caroline Sharp, a former secret agent who can’t die. Her only solution? Destroy the universe first. This six-issues series launches March 2018 from DC’s Young Animal.
