Comics Candy: November 2009

I worry about Daredevil, I really do. It’s a nagging concern that’s taken root over many months now, and seemed to crystallize in Daredevil #501 (Marvel). That’s not to say that incoming writer Andy Diggle has done a bad job here. Far from it! In fact, the transition from Brubaker to Diggle is nigh on seamless in terms of quality and ongoing narrative. But I’m concerned for the character.

Under the auspices of first Brian Michael Bendis and then Ed Brubaker, the lives of Matt Murdock/Daredevil have been dismantled to such an extent that I can’t readily see a way back. I know Daredevil is supposed to be a dark and tormented character but, really, these days he’s plumbing dark and tormented depths that would give Batman the screaming heebie-jeebies.

Full marks for putting the character quite so comprehensively through the emotional wringer, but you have to be careful not to completely compromise the essential core of who and what Daredevil is. It’s increasingly hard to sympathise or empathise with Daredevil, now the Murdock part of him has been almost completely stripped away.

To me, Daredevil was always first and foremost about the law, and Daredevil himself was a reaction to the inevitable bureaucratic shortcomings, corruptions and inadequacies of that legal system. But, not least due to the fact that almost everyone these days knows Matt Murdock is Daredevil, that light/shadow double-life is largely gone and with it a much needed sense of moral equilibrium.

In Born Again, Frank Miller did a nice job of deconstructing Daredevil and putting him back together (in one story arc). Please, please put Daredevil back together, soon, before the dreaded spectre of another Brand New Day rears its ugly head!

Bearing in mind I’m risking accusations of comic book heresy, I’m sad to say I was more than a little underwhelmed by Planetary #27 (Wildstorm). Maybe it’s the monumentally long wait combined with a justifiably high level of anticipation that provoked this somewhat lukewarm reaction on my part, but this did feel like a slightly overextended epilogue more than a full-blooded (or at least meaningful) series finale.

A ton of “cutting-edge” science (that I kind of just faded in and out of as far as my concentration went) followed by a less than staggering present meets future denouement left me rather flat. ‘Oh well, whatever’ was not how I wanted to leave Planetary, which has, in my opinion, been one of the most consistently wonderful comics of recent history.

At least now, though, I have The Unwritten #6 (DC/Vertigo) to look forward to every month. This issue keeps up the very high standard of this strange and affecting fusion of classic (and not so classic) literature and quasi-reality, as our grown-up Harry Potter (or is he?), Tommy Taylor, is sent to prison in France accused of multiple murders.

As always with this series, very little can be taken at face value and the linear progression of the story is only half the fun. Just trying to get a handle on how much the real and literary worlds have overlapped (or will) and where, keeps you on your toes throughout. Great stuff. My comic of the month! But go back and read #1-5 first. You won’t regret it.

Also well worth checking out, but again I suggest you rewind to the start, is Red Herring #3 (Wildstorm). I can forgive some of the more sledgehammer aspects (Maggie MacGuffin and Teddy ‘Red’ Herring!) simply because the tale of labyrinthine conspiracies involving an alien visitation in the 50s and the clandestine Capricorn Group that manages the subsequent fallout is just so well put together, and executed with a deft lightness of touch.

I get that the series is gently poking fun at its own source influences, but the main characters are so well drawn and likeable, and you actually care about them, that it pulls you along with a big, daft smile on your face. Love Philip Bond’s art too. Suits the material perfectly.

Walking Dead #66 (Image) took me about 5 seconds to read. And, having not read the title for some while, I couldn’t really get a good handle on much of the story content. But… this really is a book written and intended for reading month in, month out (or at least in trades), and even at this brief re-acquaintance, I can see it’s a class act and deserving of its loyal readership.

Full marks to Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard for the sheer sustained quality of their work. There’s a simply amazing spread—just a profile shot of Rick—that I otherwise might have disparaged as somewhat lazy or over-indulgent. Here it just… works. Go figure.

I’ll deal with Jonah Hex #48 (DC) and Die Hard: Year One (Boom) as mercifully as possible. Once upon a time I had a soft spot for western comics and Jonah Hex in particular. Maybe this just wasn’t the best time and place to drop in for a refresher, as the entire issue is just one big fight with far too many panels to a page. Five pages in, I didn’t know what was going on and swiftly thereafter I didn’t care. You know what they say: you can never go home!

As for Die Hard: Year One, when I saw it listed in Previews I just thought: What a great idea! And it’s written by Howard Chaykin — result! But, oh dear! Disparate characters are introduced but haven’t meshed even after 22 pages, and there’s no sense yet of a Die Hard-ian (if you’ll forgive the expression) scenario emerging.

Swiftly on to Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #1 (Marvel). Even though I wasn’t up to date on the recent developments concerning the now ex-Doctor Strange and the artist formerly known as Brother Voodoo, this made for quite a satisfying and substantial fresh start for what has only ever been a marginal character in the Marvel Universe.

It seems only fair and right, now that the Marvel cosmic cast has had a nice wash and brush-up, that the same breath of fresh air is applied to its supernatural entourage.

Writer Rick Remender clearly knows his Vishanti from his Hoggoth and the first issue neatly lays the (realigned) groundwork for more mystical mayhem to come. Oh, and there’s a neat (reprint) bonus featurette on Brother Voodoo (from 1973). Promising.

It’s rare I just don’t know what to make of a comic but Chronicles of Wormwood: The Last Battle #1 (Avatar) had me scratching my head.

True, I haven’t read either the previous volume or the one-shot, and it’s not that I couldn’t follow (more or less) what was going on, but I just couldn’t decide if it formed a cohesive whole. It seemed a little… aimless, a little light on a driving intent, just a series of vaguely connected vignettes. Intriguing but, as a first issue, flawed.

And finally, I was on more familiar ground with Criminal: The Sinners #1 (Marvel/Icon), another meaty slice of noir from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, which reintroduces deserter-turned-hit-man Tracy Lawless from the previous ‘Lawless’ story arc.

Stark, moody, brutal, bleak and entirely satisfying, in short everything a good crime noir should be. This, like Walking Dead, bears that effortless stamp of sheer class.