Top 10 Comics for the Week of June 9, 2021

Evan out there, Dan here aka The Comic Concierge

and this is one of my top 10 comic book videos

where I go through all the comics I read this

past week and pick out my top 10 favorite books

and don't worry I won't go into any major spoilers

but if you're worried at all check down below

for chapter titles and timestamps so if you want

to skip around you can do that. Also Before I

get into the good, I do try to talk about the

bad. And this is where I get to talk about the

book that most disappointed me. And when I talk

about disappointment, it doesn't necessarily

mean that the book was bad, but my expectations

clearly were not met. And I will skip this week

because I'll be honest, there wasn't really a

book that super disappointed me. You know, there

are books I didn't like, but most of those books

are. books that kind of had low expectations

of going into them. But as I racked my brain,

there was one book that didn't necessarily meet

my expectations for a number of different reasons,

some more subjective issues, but otherwise some

objective issues as well. And that was Secret

Land number one. And the reason I was disappointed

in this book, honestly, a lot of it, like I said,

was very subjective because I went into this

book thinking it was going to be this kind of

historical fiction tale and true to life story

about a soldier. in World War two and someone

kind of working undercover with the Nazis and

it is that but it is more science fiction based

like there's no crazy creatures as of yet but

the Nazis have this base it's clearly like not

meant to be realistic there's no real sense of

realism to it it feels like kind of almost science

fiction in a way with some of some of what it's

trying to go for. And again, does that make it

bad? Not necessarily. It just wasn't what I was

hoping. Despite my subjective issues, I think

there are some objective problems with the book

as well. I just thought the general story wasn't

all that strong in relationship with the characters.

It wasn't what you needed to be to make you feel

like you wanted to see these two individuals

get together. They didn't really sell it to that

degree. The art left a lot to be desired. And

it wasn't an awful issue. It was just one of

those issues that was kind of there. And it didn't

really do much to excite me on any level and

maybe again I'm a little skewed because it wasn't

what I was expecting So I'm you know, I was going

in with guns of blazing thinking I'm not gonna

like it because it wasn't what I wanted But I

do think ultimately when it came to a lot of

first issues this week Which had a pretty good

list of strong gross issues This was one that

I had high expectations for then just kind of

walked away not thinking much of it Is it impossible

for this series to get better with issues to

come? Not necessarily. And maybe others will

think differently. But no, I was hoping this

would kind of be that diamond in the rough, that

pleasant surprise. And it just wasn't quite there,

unfortunately. Enough about the band. Let's talk

about the good. So let's start with my number

10 this week. And I thought there was, again,

an okay week for comics. This was a week where

it was really hard to do my top 10 in a sense

of like nothing really super stood out. Like

these books are generally pretty equal this week

and I'll talk about them more when I get to the

books that are higher up. There are some books

that didn't quite make the list that were very

close like Eve number two I once had on here

but ultimately for my number 10 I went with Hailstorm

number two and this is published by Comixology.

This issue is written by Raphael Scavone, with

art by Raphael de la Tour, colors by Wesley Monroe,

and letters by Bernardo Price. And in this issue,

it picks up right after the encounter of the

first issue, where you have the sheriff and his

gang trying to determine what exactly is taking

people, making people go missing in the woods.

After this deadly attack, which we're not really

sure what exactly happened, Tobias reaches out

to the local Blackfoot tribe and they get some

assistance for the ailing sheriff who's nearing

death. The heart of this issue starts right there

where you see the sheriff and the chief of the

Blackfoot tribe kind of bonding or having this

conversation about how they still clearly don't

trust one another to a great extent. They can

find some initial appreciation in different things

But we're really they ended up bonding over is

the fact that they both lost their sons recently

and that that element of loss is something that

is carried throughout this this issue and really

this serious because you do have a lot of people

that are missing people for a multitude of reasons

again, this is happening at the tail end of the

Civil War and you got to think loss was really

commonplace because you think about the amount

of people that were killed in that you had a

lot of people that were simply And I do think

this is kind of a microcosm or a reflection of

that loss. Done in a different fashion and you

also see the sheriff trying to determine, you

know Is there more nefarious things happening

with the army that that's also based there as

well And as they are leaving the army you're

seeing that there's also having some devastating

effects to the town because It's kind of the

one place people have gone to to get jobs in

a way So there are all these little moving pieces

that I've really kind of said to appreciate and

I just love Kind of the time and place of this

book the style of it. We don't get of western

books at all and I just love getting a book that's

like well as well executed in this that's within

that genre and I do think these characters are

pretty strong and we're getting a lot of the

tropes that you would expect with a western exactly

you know Native Americans and cowboys fighting

one another but in this case no they're not necessarily

fighting that they're coming to a mutual agreement

we still don't know what exactly is going after

these individuals in the woods but now a new

mystery is popping up wondering if there's actually

much more to be scared about regarding the army

that's there. funny in a bit what seems as these

kind of creatures in the woods even the Blackfoot

tribe had certain beliefs of what exactly that

was actually taking these individuals because

they lost people as well and now you have this

kind of myth growing and will we find out the

myth is something that it's just the army doing

Certain things and try to covering it up. I'm

not sure but I do like these characters the sheriff

character I do think is fixing that mold with

a really solid Western character where you know,

he's not this amazing action star per se He's

just kind of trying to do the right thing and

put himself out there and because of that he

tends to fail a lot Maybe get in his own way,

but it leads to good drama and it leads a good

story again This is on Comixology. So if you

do have that you can get it for free and Comixology

I think this year has been doing a really good

job when it comes to to a lot of their original

series. When they first started coming out, I

kind of dismissed them all, but I have to say,

like, they've really been pushing out different

books from multiple different styles, you know,

from the Snow Angels youth, and I just love the

fact that we're getting a Western book, and I

know there's a lot of Western fans out there,

and there really isn't another Western ongoing

series right now, and I think if that is a genre

you adore or a genre that you really appreciate,

I think this will be right up your alley. Number

nine for me comes from Marvel Comics this week,

and it's... Iron Man number nine, this is written

by Chris Cantwell, but with art by Kuffu, and

I've been really digging this run since the beginning,

and this is another kind of offshoot issue in

a way where it's all dedicated to kind of the

main villain of this book thus far, Korvat, and

kind of going into his history and really diving

into what exactly he's trying to do and This

is an issue that kind of, again, takes a step

back, which is kind of a brave thing to do when

you're at nine issues and to focus primarily

on the character of Korvak to kind of get into

his psyche and look at his origin and kind of

figure out where exactly he's coming from. And

as a person that knows very little about Korvak,

I did actually appreciate this because in a way

he was able to kind of go back while still...

pushing forward, which is not the easiest thing

to do. I think it's really important for an issue

like this. When you're dealing with these cosmic

creatures and you want to make them feel like

they're larger than life, they go beyond comprehension

of man, he's able to do that because it's a very

cinematic style as well, where he's able to kind

of highlight these characters and make them feel

larger than life, especially when you bring in

some surprising characters, including really,

really early on characters of Bohemian perhaps,

maybe even the first human torch. And usually

when you have a book that is so soaked in continuity.

of Marvel, it can be kind of complicated to get

into. You can get lost in it. But I think this

is doing a good job of picking out certain things

to help shape its world, but also providing the

explanation of those things as well. Like it

did a really good job of that when they kind

of dived into the character of Hellcat a few

issues ago. And now we're seeing that again with

a character of Korvac. And why this is important

and why this issue is important too is now we're

seeing where Korvac's coming from, his perspective

and like all great villains, all great villains.

that they're the hero of this story and people

are just getting in their way and we see that

Korvak isn't necessarily this evil individual

especially when you go back to where he came

from and a lot of the stuff I didn't even know

but Despite that this is a pretty packed issue

when it comes to events and history It was really

easy to follow and I think it really character

driven ultimately, you know It wasn't necessarily

about the plot per se and this issue is about

getting you to understand who Korvac is what

Korvac is might be more appropriate title for

this book So I don't know if this would be a

great jumping on point It might be like I said,

this is kind of setting up where the conflict

is coming from and it does jump all around in

timelines a bit but But I think you kind of have

to understand that because you're dealing with

a character like Korvac, who is this otherworldly

being who is kind of beyond comprehension of

time, who doesn't go through time similar to

the way we do. when you're having a book that

is through his perspective, it makes sense to

kind of write it that way as well. But overall,

this has been a really solid series thus far,

the way they've been approaching the character

of Tony Stark. And despite the fact that Tony

Stark really, he is kind of in this issue, but

really he's a side player and he's been a side

player for the last few issues. But this has

been doing a good job of building up a really

strong cast of characters. So despite the fact

that the titular character is not there, you

really don't notice. So. I would definitely advise

picking this series up. I do think it might not

work for everyone because it's very much a different

approach. It's much more clinical in its kind

of execution in a way, and it's very character

-driven and really emotionally based. Maybe not

something you're expecting for a kind of a bombastic

character like Tony Stark, but I do feel like

this is the type of storyline that Tony Stark

very much needs so he can be more than just kind

of forgetting the fact that he's not Robert Downey

Jr., that that character has a longer history

and that's been much different than that. And

this has been the first series I felt that has

kind of acknowledged that and kind of trying

to break him away from the MCU version that people

have come to know and remember that Tony Stark

can be. looked at and written differently, and

that's really one of the biggest highlights of

this book thus far. On to my number eight. And

my number eight also comes from Marvel. They

had a pretty good week this week, so kudos to

them. And it's Strange Academy number 11. Again,

another book I've been really digging with Marvel.

I know that I don't love every Marvel series,

but there are certain series that have been really

consistent since they've come out. Ironman being

one of them strange Academy being another and

you look at one of the biggest reasons for that

is Consistent creative teams and the fact that

this is pretty much had Scottie Young and Herberto

Ramos on writing and art deities For all 11 issues

now, which is not super common, but it's coming

more common I think maybe the Marvel saw what

was so successful with a mortal Hulk knowing

el Ewing and Joe Bennett We're on the majority

of that and realize maybe that's part of the

magic too. So let's get back to that. Whatever

the reason Ultimately like strange Academy is

a book I don't think would work if you've got

a different artist in a way This issue is all

about a murder mystery or kind of a murder mystery

where you have a student who's from? We're a

world who's kind of this glass like creature

is kind of murdered. Let's just say Destroyed

or dismembered, but he can be put back together

However, there's missing pieces. So it's kind

of like this puzzle class meant mesh with with

murder mystery and who do you get to kind of?

Solve that type of crime. What do you get to

try to help you out there? Well, then Howard

the duck So that was to me like a big surprise

and I do feel bad for kind of ruining that in

a way But again, it's not necessarily a plot

point But it's a big point of the issue is the

fact that her to duck is there Interacting and

kind of investigating including interviewing

students and that was one of the biggest highlights

here was seeing him interview And I do I'm a

huge Howard the Duck fan I wouldn't say huge

fan, but I've liked a lot of his series this

last series from Marvel, which was really underappreciated

So I don't know the last time he showed up in

a book So it's fun seeing him here and you know

Scottie Young writes a really good Howard the

Duck and Roberto Ramos draws a really good one

and he fits seamlessly into this world It makes

sense right? This is a world that's full of random

and crazy creatures. So a talking duck from space

kind of fits right in without a problem. And

I just thought like the procedural aspects of

it were pretty strong as well to seem and kind

of go through and figure out what exactly happened.

This was kind of something that was horrible,

although. Perhaps it undercut that a bit by knowing

like right away it's like oh he's murdered but

not really almost like okay like we're not going

to let you know that this kid is going to be

fine by the end which maybe hurt the drama a

little bit but really the story here wasn't the

fact that someone was murdered it was more so

who did it and and why and again One of the things

we're seeing is kind of the being able to kind

of flesh out a lot of these characters. And by

the end of this, I thought it was actually somewhat

of a pretty good surprise. And this is actually

a storyline that's going to be continuing next

issue, which has not always been the case for

the Strange Academy. A lot of them have been

when and done storylines, but this is clearly

at least a two issue arc, maybe more. But been

really loving this book and this issue is no

different. The first number one I'll be talking

about, which is Bunny Mask number one. This is

written by Paul Tubin with art by Andrea Moody

and This is a story that it's kind of difficult

to explain without spoiling it in a way but it

opens up pretty much in your face right away

where you see these two individuals kind of investigating

a kid who hasn't showed up to school and it becomes

very deadly right away. I'm gonna try to explain

this book without spoiling it in a way which

is a bit difficult but... I'll try the book the

book opens up and we see that these two individuals

man and woman are investigating this child who

hasn't shown up to school kind of your social

services call right away they knock on the door

things get deadly the dad walks out and he seems

to have the woman right in the chest those are

in the river with her car and the guy He's punched

in the face, he survives, but he wakes to find

himself in this tunnel and the dad's kind of

going crazy saying that he has to dig to help

him find something and his daughter's there with

him and he's kind of performed a face operation

or a teeth operation on her, so her teeth are

all kind of jagged and they're all kind of doing

this dig, looking for this random creature in

this creepy cave. And things get weirder for

there. And let's just say, you know, the book's

called Buddymass, a creature called Buddymass

does appear. and things to get even weirder from

there. There is a bit of a flash forward as well

and without getting things away, but it does

seem like there's going to be a lot of questions

about who exactly and what exactly this bloody

masked character is and how does it relate to

this craziness from, you know, this encounter

with these social services people in this family.

And where this really shines, though, is just

it has a creepy vibe right from the start, a

lot due to the art. You know, Andrew Moody's

probably most recently yesterday had another

book out this week which was Maniac from New

York and really do you see an artist? with two

books in the same week. That came out this week

too. And I do really love his art and it fits

really well into the tone of this book. It's

a bit messy. It really has a creepy vibe to it.

Kind of a sketchy quality, but also have to point

out Taylor Esposito, who is a letterer here,

who I think is really an underrated letterer.

And I thought he did a really good job of matching

his style with this and good job of like, you

know, how do you... show that a character is

crazy. And I think his talk balloons, his word

balloons are really helpful really to highlight

when he kind of is going off the deep end with

sharp black lines, extended letters in the dialogue.

So we can kind of see a lot of energy and emphasis

being put in there. And then when it came to

the sound effects, like there's this kind of

scratching sound and it's like with red and like

almost cursive like letters. And it just really

added to just like that vibe of like you're feeling

there's something crawling up on you or something

like that. And when it comes to sound effects

or onomatopoeia, whatever you wanna call it,

sometimes I don't really notice it, but I do

think when you. able to adjust to differentiate

your style to kind of fit the mode of the book

that's usually the sign of a good letterer and

that was the case here with this issue and those

touches I think were and kind of getting the

atmosphere, you know, and making this book as

effective as it was in that, like the story itself,

I think, is pretty good. It's different. It's

not something I really had any idea what exactly

was going to haunt me. And this is on a premise

that we're kind of used to, you know, sometimes

horror has those classic premises, you know,

with a haunted house, whatever that may be. And

at first I kind of thought that would be what

this is, you know, this dad going crazy, like,

you know. Amityville horror or something like

that, but it's beyond that with this other random

bunny mask character And there's a lot of just

kind of weirdness here that I really appreciate

there's a lot of questions about what exactly

is going on seems to be dealing with like ancient

issues that go way back to well before our time

and coming with the time of civilization. So

it has me intrigued for sure. I thought it was

really effective at just setting this stage,

setting the mood and giving you a kind of a conflict

that you weren't necessarily expecting right

away. Like it really jumped out right at the

beginning. Like here we are, this is going to

be a very book that has, that does not waste

a moment. And so far that's been the case. But

then in the second half, it kind of slowed down

a bit. just to have a great reveal at the end

that this completely kind of recontextualizes

that bit of the actual book too. So, really solid

debut. There's been a lot of great horror books

out there. move it next to or relate it towards

its very much its own thing which is probably

why I liked it as much as I did. I do this on

purpose but my number six is the six sidekicks

of Trigger Keaton. Number one this is written

by Kyle Sark with art by Chris Charles. I can

never say his last name just my mouth can't make

those words work but this is a great creative

team last worked on Mars Attacks and now working

on this book and it's kind of looking at Bunny

Mask which was this creepy and eerie story. This

was not that, but I really needed this book.

A book that was just kind of funny and joyful

to read, off the wall wacky, but really well

executed. This is kind of exactly what I was

expecting with this book, knowing this creative

team, knowing Kyle Starrt's overall career and

what he's really good at, which is humor. There

wasn't a huge amount of heart in this book, but

I can say you see it definitely getting there

eventually. And what this story is about is Cricker

Keaton. We meet him and he's basically the type

of action star, the type of movie star that you

just hate right away, and he's like a mix of

Chuck Norris, Hulk Hogan, and like the worst

person you've met. It all rolled up into one,

and he doesn't care about anyone else, like by

himself. He's very much a loner. He thinks he's

the baddest ass that ever existed, ever walked

the earth, and even though he'll put people's

lives in danger that are on set, like even punching

like stuntmen in the face and not worrying about

it, saying that's their job, and that's all he

really cares about. Well, of course, because

of that, a lot of people dislike him and hate

him, flash forward, and he's found dead hanging

in his trailer and people wonder, assume maybe

it was just suicide, but all these different

sidekicks from his past life, you know, kid sidekicks

that worked with him that are now older, that

have left their career and acting in large part

because of things that he did, some sidekicks

that you have this one guy who, should hate him

but for whatever reason loves his approach even

though he knows that he hates him he's a really

interesting figure himself this other person

that is newer and one of my favorite characters

he's this guy that was just becoming on the detective

show and utilizing a lot of the skills he got

into like detective boot camp to try to look

into and thinking like is this in fact a suicide

or or murder um just some funny bits there but

One thing I think Carl Sarks and this whole team

is really good at is establishing character.

And when you have six major characters and I

don't know if we meet all six, but every sidekick

we get like right away, you kind of have a sense

of who they are, how they operate. You have a

guy who was a sidekick who had only a small bit

in this issue, but he was a former sports star

and became an action star and he had a big riff

with Trigger Keaton and you see him have this

press conference and it's just kind of the wacky.

of Hollywood as well. And just to add things

in, there's also some issues that they're running

into with some of the stuntmen as well. When

you have a stuntman more, that was just a kind

of funny bit. So this was, you know, although

the center of this is a murder mystery. There's

a lot of fun to be had. If you did enjoy Pascal

Sark's books like Rocket and the Mountain, then

that's a fantastic book. It has a similar vibe,

of course, different artists, but I do really

enjoy, I'm not even going to pronounce his name

again, because I'll say it wrong, but I do really

love this artist. I do think he has a really

good cartooning sense of style. When it comes

to motion, it comes to fun like this. It fits

the... tone of the story perfectly. It's a good

time. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, again,

because of the style or the story. There's nothing

necessarily serious here, but if you really...

Jive with his vibe, which is a really bad rhyme

that I didn't mean to say, but it just kind of

worked out that way. It really worked for you.

And it worked for me. I'm really looking forward

to the next issue. It was really fun. I do hope

that we do get that bit of heart, like I mentioned,

that we've seen Kyle Starks do before a lot.

Like in Rock Candy Mountain, by the end, you

had this really heartwarming story about this

guy trying to find his family. And there's none

of that here, but I do think... probably where

it's going to come is seeing these six sidekicks

kind of come together and maybe being able to

bond over the fact that maybe they hate one another,

but it's really just relevant. And obviously

when it comes to the humor. That's such a subjective

thing. But I do think there's just generally

strong characters here. So even if you're not

laughing at every joke, I think just the story

itself is well enough and does a pretty good

job of kind of getting you intrigued about what

exactly happened, who did it, and where can I

go from here? This week is a good Asian number

two. And this continues to be just a really solid

noir story. And I'm really enjoying this main

character. And as he's diving down into the...

depths of San Francisco and the insanity of that

time. I will also say beyond just the book itself,

because you see him kind of trying to investigate

this mystery, this missing persons case. And,

you know, the thing with Noir is that things

can get really convoluted and complicated with

all the different storylines and stuff like that.

And that's kind of happening here. But in a way,

you just kind of have to go with the character

because that's kind of the point is just like

he has all these different side tracks. He's

trying to go down and figure out what exactly

is going on. So. something that maybe it starts

in beginning and issue number one, and it's a

subplot, comes back around, and that's kind of

the case here. You have a lot of moving pieces

already, but what's really, really strong here

is the sense of place and really kind of getting

into what San Francisco was like at the time.

And I do actually advise if you buy the single

issue to check out the back matter. The back

matter was fantastic. Again, it doesn't necessarily

make the story better, but it provided a lot

of great information about this time and place,

even like the just these different clubs that

existed, because one big piece of this is this

massive set piece of this kind of underground

club, like singing club, and it was marvelous

to look at. Like it certainly spoke to a certain

time and place really well. I just love the little

detective bits, a lot of the art choices of,

you're seeing his perspective, what he's looking

at a lot, a lot of closeups to what you're not

necessarily seeing. the entire person, but what

he's looking at that person, both with these

like cut out red boxes and generally where you

see them put the camera, just so you get his

entire perspective throughout. I thought that

was a really effective choice of just looking

to see how much he has attention to detail and

how he's able to pick out all these different

bits about people and as he's going from place

to place and also seeing that. being Asian is

being a cop is not necessarily the easiest thing

even when working with other Asians like he shows

his badge to this older lady and she kind of

laughs at him thinking it's fake or not willing

to help him because they don't want to help the

police so despite the fact that He can get into

places maybe other people can't. They still don't

trust the police, no matter what they look like.

It's a lot here. I think a lot of historical

contexts are generally really well -executed

story. If you're a crime fan, you enjoy that

genre. And for example, and you are missing like

criminal, cause that's not out right now. And

this is, I think a different vibe than criminal,

but I think, you know, if you love that genre

and the tropes that usually come with it, I think

this will probably be a book for you. This week

is Rorschach number nine. This is written by

Tom King with art by Jorge Fornes. And every

time I pick up this - issue my thought is what

is going to be the way they approach this this

part of the story what's the craft for use they're

going to use last week they had this they use

this craft where they had three concurrent storylines

at the same time this week it doesn't do that

but it was a nice little trick where you see

the detective trying to go through all these

clues and to figure out you know why did this

fake Rorschach and this young girl try to try

to assassinate this political figure and what

you see is in a really strong use of coloring

is, you know, one scene of them kind of in the

past and having this conversation going through

things, and then him in the next panel kind of

there trying to imagine what happened, putting

the pieces together. As someone who does kind

of love the procedural crime aspect of something

and seeing him, like, how does he come to certain,

certain conclusions? Like, there's not like a

wasted moment in the sense of he... Like everything's

earned, like the choices he's making and the

conclusions he's putting together. You see him

put all the clues literally bit by bit to figure

out kind of what exactly happened and why it

happened. And he still has a lot of questions

despite the fact that he knows who did it. The

why's still there, the why's still a big question.

And again, as always, Rory Parnas is really killing

it when it comes to the storytelling with this

book. Again, I don't think this was good as last

issue, but I've just really been appreciating

the approach with this book, how they're always

trying to do something new and indifferent and

approach the story in a unique fashion and taking

kind of what is generally just this. murder mystery

or attempted murder mystery but making it much

more complex which makes sense because you've

looked back at Watchmen which was generally a

murder mystery that again spilled out and became

much much more. This is still generally isolated

because it's still dealing with this one individual

who's this cop but just make me wonder where

it will be going in future issues and as if you're

a person who loved the tv show Watchmen that

was on with HBO not too long ago this actually

has a lot of linking bits to it and feels much

more of that world than the actual Watchmen comic.

It makes a lot of references, for example, to

Robert Rufford, who's president, which was established

in that TV show. It was a good way of kind of

meshing all the different pieces of the Watchmen

universe. And I do like the fact that it doesn't

try to be Watchmen in the sense of just repeating

that same iconography that we always see or just

doing the nine panel grid all the time because

that's what Watchmen did. I think it's trying

to be as original as it can be with a character

that has been really well established. And at

the end of the day, it's very standalone. This

can be its own thing. and be, I think, as effective

as it is, even if it didn't have one of the greatest

comic books of all time in its backing that it's

always going to be compared to. It's willing

to stand on its own two feet, and I do admire

that by this approach, despite the fact that

people may have issues that just exist. If you

can get beyond that and just read it for what

it is, I think there's a lot to appreciate with

each and every issue. One of those weeks where

like oh my number one was definitely my number

one It was it took a lot of thinking to get to

where I came to with this placement No, generally

when it comes to placement, it's all kind of

subjective. Anyways, you're trying to rank art,

which is not always easy thing Anyways, let me

actually talk about my number three, which is

Carmen number four and again this story continues

to be one gorgeous to look at it the art here

is just top -notch Gillian March just the way

he design this world, like anytime I see a book

now that does not have the world design, the

backgrounds, the character designs that this

does, it feels like I'm being cheated in a way.

Every panel, every page, it feels like you are

there living in the moment. And then just really

the character designs themselves are really strong.

And beyond that, this was, man, this was an emotionally

impactful issue. And I know it was emotionally

impactful because when I got to the last page,

which I thought... this could end here. This

could be the ending. It would be a little bit

ambiguous, but I was like, let me make sure there's

an issue five because I was really worried that

it was going to end there. And I'm like, no,

I need to know more. And this is where everything

kind of came to a head. And if there's one complaint

is that this seemed like the obvious route of

where this relationship dynamic was going to

go. The story itself of Carmen is about this

girl who. Attempted to kill herself or killed

herself and now she's kind of in limbo kind of

living on earth We're being existing on earth

and kind of just looking around her first She's

just kind of being this free spirit going place

to place But now we've been seeing her kind of

reflect on a lot of the choices she made especially

after Last issue because you have this other

being who's kind of like this death character

that's supposed to usher her into the next life

But we're seeing maybe She's not necessarily

quick to do that for whatever reason. And what

set her off on this kind of journey or this decision

to begin with is the fact that she was having

relationship difficulty with this guy that she

loved, but she felt that he was in love with

someone else. And this issue, it approaches that

head on in a lot of ways. And again, it was an

obvious choice, but I think it was necessary

to get the drama here. Again, this is not a story

about... trying to trick you or about crazy revelations

of like, oh, I never saw that coming. It's about

character and about putting you in their time

and space and putting you into their head and

making you feel what they feel and. It is extremely

effective at doing that. And especially when

you have a character that literally does feel

what other people feel because she won't, if

she touches a human being, like she'll kind of

see their memory and see their emotions. And

there's a nice little bit at the beginning where

you see her do that with this guy. He was trying

to, he was coming out and you seeing he's robbing

some place. But then you see what brought him

to that and being a refugee and having like no

other choice. And this is the only way he could

get by. That is. nice little bit of just seeing

that's what this book has been about is perspective

like you don't know what the world is like through

other people's eyes and this has been a story

that's been kind of showcasing that from the

beginning so I'm really excited for the last

issue again this was it was close to being my

number one if that was generally effective there's

only one small bit that took me away from it

like I said was that narratively it seemed like

it went to the obvious way but That can all change

when with issue number five and make me wonder

where exactly does it go from here. I have an

idea. I think, you know, is it going to give

us something that is more of a happy ending or

a sad ending? Both are kind of dangling there

and I think both have the same level of likelihood.

We'll see what happens with next issue. This

week was Black Hammer Visions number five. This

is written by Kelly Thompson with art by Leonardo

Romero and colors by Jordi Belair. And this book

wins the award for best looking comic of the

week for me. large part because of the colors

of Jordi Belair and this book was so gorgeous

to look at and Leonardo Romero's his page design

of what I really noticed too is that he used

a lot of large panels and a lot of large character

designs the sense of he really took up the page

especially Skulldigger and he felt really big

and he felt really bold and he felt like this

larger -than -life character and he meets up

with This other character who's clearly meant

to be catwoman. Generally. This is a Batman catwoman

story done really, really well, but without kind

of all the baggage of the DC universe and all

the fact that the fact that this actually isn't

Batman and Catwoman. So people can die and there

can be repercussions that have long lasting effects,

especially with this being kind of its own thing.

And I just thought it was really well told. And,

but just really though, really what put it up

here, the story was good, but the art was top

notch. It was next level. There was a lot of

color saturation here, but I think it was really

effective. One of my favorite. was this massive

splash page that had three kind of kind of story

lines going on at once and three encounters with

Skulldigger and this new character. And they

were differentiated through the color choice.

At first, I thought it was the same exact scene.

But then we realized, no, they're three separate

occasions, all kind of going into the fact that

you're seeing them kind of run into one another.

So it was a good way of kind of building up relationship

all in one page. Now it was a splash page that

was all about story, which is what you don't

see. Then every other page though, like Bellaire

is really good at kind of putting your eye where

it needs to be, making everything pop off the

page. And I was just like, man, this is just

good to look at. Like I was just looking at the

art, kind of not even paying attention to the

story at times, had to focus. on the word balloon

just because it was just, it was so pristine

to look at. And I've been enjoying the series

thus far. I don't know if this would be my favorite

issue of it, generally the best looking issue,

I would say. But yeah, like again, if you're

a huge Batman fan and you've never read Black

Hammer before, check this out. This is a great

entry point into the world. I'm really glad that

we're seeing more Skulldigger and his look, you

know, again, he's like Batman, but maybe with

a more Gothic kind of death look. in a way, with

more of a biker mindset, because instead of being

a billionaire, he's a butcher. So bones about

what exactly this is taking from. It's not trying

to hide the fact of what it is, but, you know,

it's just, if this was a Batman Catwoman story,

it would just be as good, but knowing that they

don't necessarily have to play by those rules,

they can kind of do fun different things, and

they took advantage of those rules with this

issue. So what is my number one this week? And

I'll be honest, when it came to my number one...

I didn't in any way shape or form expect this

book to be my number one going into it. This

is a book I was actually close to dropping. I

liked it, but it wasn't something I was over

the moon with, as many people were. And it's

Geiger number three. This is of course written

by Jeff Johns with Art by Gary Frank. And I liked

the first issue well enough. I just thought it

felt rather familiar. I didn't really dig the

second issue that much, but... What this issue

did is it was completely recontextualizing everything

that came before, especially much of the first

issue as you look and see more about the history

of the glowing man and see that he actually has

kind of a history with this Prince character

that's basically this Joffrey character that

lives in Las Vegas and seeing there's a reason

that that. character actually hates the glowing

man. It's a strange choice in a way. I wonder,

like, does it make sense to keep that, you know,

making that untold story until right now. I will

say it did lead to a really strong issue and

a really emotionally impactful issue as well.

And I gotta say that I was impressed that Jeff

Johns made some choices in this, along with Gary

Frank, when it came to, you know, basically taking

an element of hope. and completely destroying

it and it was like wow you know a revelation

i thought wouldn't come into the very last issue

came in this which is maybe what big reason why

i wasn't as impressed with it as i was because

i'm thinking like i had an idea of where exactly

where it was going and i kind of dismissed it

in that sense of like i see the pieces i see

where this is going we've seen this story before

but this issue completely rewrote that and now

we're seeing that this glowing man is living

a different life than we necessarily expected.

It makes everything that came before all that

more tragic. A story that was seeped in tragedy

just finds a way to becoming more and more tragic.

And also, I think this is where it kind of leaked

most into the superhero aspect as well, where

it felt much more of a superhero story than a

soapy and future story, which kind of makes sense

because this is what that creative team has done

the most together. So going back into that mold

is... is fitting. And again, Gary Frank is, man,

it's great looking to see his art again. He's

definitely taking a lot of the tools that he

got when it came to working on Doomsday Clock.

And we do see a lot of the nine panel grid here,

but I think it's not used to, and as knowledge

is effective when it's there, and generally his

art is just super sharp. His character faces

are always on point and he's really able to think.

Convey sadness in that's actually needed and

there's just some just some bits in here some

some visual storytelling That I don't want to

spoil but let's just say when something is tossed

into the air And it's an object that has a huge

amount of sentimental meaning because it's more

than an object I just thought that was quite

quite a choice and Quite a choice that like was

actually rather impressed with how dark it got

which I was not expecting with a Jeff Johns book

You know this I don't know if he's written any

like he's not at least done anything outside

the world of DC for some time and coming out

strong with this. So I went from this being a

book that I was like, I don't know, after issue

two, like we'll see how issue three goes. If

it's the same direction, I'm probably not gonna

continue it to this being my issue of the week.

And maybe that is why it is my number one issue

is because it was the biggest surprise, biggest

pleasant surprise. And I was like, wow, that

was not what I was expecting. And sometimes that

can, you know, it gives you a lot to talk about

and it also kind of keeps with you a bit longer.

but it was also just well executed. So does it

make me change my mind with the issues I had

in the first two, or the problems I had with

the first two issues? No, I think those are still

valid and they're still there. But I do think

this was by far the strongest issue thus far.

And it really gives you a lot more. Really, again,

it sets all those different pieces and really

helps click the first issues together. And now

we have kind of generally a central focus of

what exactly is the story here. Three issues

in and we're now seeing where the conflict is

going to lie. And I think that is... Big piece

of why I like this because now the story shifted

into something completely different compared

to this this guy trying to Wait out the end of

the world. He is more of a meaning behind his

actions now. So that's you know, has me interested

to see where it goes thus far. All right, well,

that's enough rambling for me for this week.

So those are my favorite books of the week. What

did you really enjoy? What were your topics?

Let me know in the comment section below. I know

there are a ton of comic book channels out there,

so I appreciate any comment, any like, anything

like that. I truly do appreciate it. I thank

you for taking the time to check out my channel.

Just remember that comics are for everyone. The

key is finding the right one. Until next time,

keep reading.