This week I’m on vacation and spending a lot of time on airplanes, so I caught up on a ton of comics. Specifically: issues I’ve been wanting to read, review copies I was supposed to read, and series I should have been reading if I want to know what the heck is going on in the series I’m actually reading.
See below for reviews of A Study in Emerald from Neil Gaiman and Dark Horse, Pearl #1 from Brian Michael Bendis and DC, Skyward #5 from Joe Henderson and Image Comics, and Transformers vs. Visionaries from Magdalene Visaggio and IDW. (Bonus read: Optimus Prime #19, which I should have read ages ago and now I’m really glad I did.)
A Study in Emerald
Anyone who’s read the short story from Neil Gaiman will know that the resolution of the mystery is the best part, but beyond that I can’t say much or I’ll spoil it. But what I can say is: it’s Sherlock Holmes’ London, except for the Lovecraftian Old Gods who took over the world a while ago and now Cthulu-like creatures rule every country on the planet and everybody’s completely fine with it. (Except for the malcontents who aren’t.)
This is one of my favorite Neil Gaiman stories, and this adaptation (a group effort from Neil and writers Rafael Albuquerque and Rafael Scavone with art by Rafael Albuquerque and Dave Stewart) stays very true to the original story, and might possibly (blasphemy!) even make it better.
It’s just clever, the whole story, from beginning to end. (Pay special attention to the ads in between the chapters; I loved them in the original story and now the visual design is just delightful.) It’s everything you love about a Sherlock Holmes story, with eldritch gods thrown in. The world-building is really impressive in its simplicity; what better way to make the Old Gods a part of Victorian England than to make them royalty?
Whether you’re a fan of the original story or completely new to it, I highly recommend this one.
Pearl #1
I’ve been curious about this book from Brian Michael Bendis (I still miss his work in Doctor Strange) so I gave it a read.
Michael Gaydos’ style is always interesting to unpack: it’s that super realistic style done from (I’m guessing?) a lot of photo references, but he avoids that pitfall of making things TOO realistic (I’m not a fan of every tooth being outlined or uncomfortably well-defined lips, and he doesn’t do either.) It’s not beautiful in a traditional sense, since he likes to have a real-world grittyness to the scenes. People look like people, not like stylized versions of people you see in most comics. It’s always interesting, and will look very similar to fans of Gaydos’ work on Jessica Jones. I like it, but I think sometimes it takes a little getting used to. (But I’ve been mostly reading books with giant alien robots punching each other lately, so I have a little adapting to do.)
As for the story, I know this is a new book, and I know a lot of writers will drop you into the middle of the story and give you information in dribs and drabs…but I had the weirdest feeling like I was supposed to already know what was going on. I was afraid for just a second the main character was someone introduced briefly in another series. But nope, she’s a new creation (…I hope, if I’ve screwed that up please let me know) and we really are just dropped into the middle of her story and get to play catchup. She’s an accidental assassin working as a tattoo artist, and is apparently brilliant at both jobs. I’m looking forward to finding out more, though right now this was the briefest of introductions, so I’m not completely hooked yet. (It’s Bendis though, so obviously I’m willing to give it a chance.)
Skyward #5
This issue marks the end of the first arc for this story, and I was worried it might be the end of the series; I didn’t know how invested I’d gotten in the story until I thought it might be over. Luckily, there’s more to come. (For most of the characters anyway…)
There’s so much potential in this world. Joe Henderson is having a lot of fun both with the science of a zero-G world (what do rainstorms look like with no gravity?) and with how people and society would change if one day the gravity was just gone. And Lee Garbett is definitely up to the challenge of drawing both zero-G rainstorms and heart-to-hearts between fathers and daughters drifting above the rooftops.
Transformers vs. Visionaries
With only a few more issues left of the current Transformers series at IDW, I’ve been trying to catch up on some of the tertiary books that I wasn’t reading, since events there seem to be playing into the resolution of the books I AM reading.
I never watched the Visionaries cartoon (and with only one season, neither did a ton of other people) but someone on a comment thread said the series had potential, and the idea of magic mixing with Transformers seemed to be a fun one.
I think the problem is that this book was meant for fans of Visionaries, not for fans of Transformers. At the very least it was written and drawn by people who weren’t really Transformers fans: the faces seemed off on all the Cybertronians, and they didn’t really act the way I’d expect. (Iron Hide gleefully shouting “Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong” is just embarrassing.) I’m assuming the writing and art was good for fans of the Visionaries, but I didn’t really care about the characters or what was happening to them.
And one more thing.
We lose a legacy Transformer in this book, and I won’t spoil who it is, but I will say they go out like a chump. LIKE A CHUMP. I was horrified. There’s even a few pages afterwards memorializing the character, and I couldn’t help shouting “you know what would’ve been a great way to memorialize this character? A BETTER DEATH.”
If you wonder why I usually hate having humans mixed in with my Transformers, it’s because a lot of the time they’re the bad guys of the stories: it’s always “death to the giant robots!” and since I’m on the side of the giant robots, the humans can go straight to hell. And then one of the most irritating of the bad guys actually manages to kill one of the robots? It felt pointless and anti-climactic. And I know that’s what death is sometimes: not everybody goes out like a hero. But it really felt like a bad choice, and definitely didn’t endear me to the rest of the series.
Optimus Prime #19
I said in an earlier review of a different book that I hadn’t been consistently keeping up with the Optimus Prime series, mostly because while Kei Zama’s art is excellent, I prefer the look of artists like Jack Lawrence and Alex Milne. Also the story tends to be more on the serious side, and I like the quirky element of Lost Light. A few people have responded that while that’s understandable, I really should catch up on the book, because the story is well-written and important to the events of the upcoming finale.
So randomly I picked up issue 19, which is drawn by Sara Pitre-Durocher, one of my favorites!
The issue is beautiful, and the story gets into why Starscream is behaving the way he is now in the Unicron book (demoralized, pissed-off, but still thinking he’s way more important than people give him credit for.) I’m really glad I read this one, the art alone is worth the price of the book.