Category: DC

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Musashi #9 Vol. 1

By Takahashi Miyuki
208 pages, black and white
Published by CMX/DC Comics

As strange as it may sound, I’m always a little more intrigued by books being brought over from Japan that are still ongoing series. Maybe it’s because the ending doesn’t yet exist, meaning that you’ve still got surprises in store for you, the conclusion yet to be formed. It’s one of the reasons why I first picked up the book Musashi #9 from DC’s new CMX imprint as I scanned the shelves for something new. Of course, the real question isn’t “is it still going?” but rather, “is it any good?”

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Sandman Mystery Theatre Vol. 1-2

Written by Matt Wagner
Art by Guy Davis, John Watkiss, and R.G. Taylor
112 pages & 208 pages, color
Published by Vertigo/DC Comics

I have a confession to make: when it was first published, I stopped buying Sandman Mystery Theatre after six issues. In 1993 I didn’t have much money to spend on comics, and comics quickly got dropped off of my list of things to buy if they lost my attention. Now that DC Comics has released the first 12 issues of the series in two collected volumes, though, I figured it was time to see if, a decade later, my tastes had matured a bit more and it would be more to my liking… or if perhaps I was right the first time I decided that the book was not for me.

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JLA: Classified #1

Written by Grant Morrison
Penciled by Ed McGuinness
Inked by Dexter Vines
32 pages, color
Published by DC Comics

I loved Grant Morrison’s issues of JLA. They had a great mix of action and crazy, larger-than-life ideas rampaging through the pages every month, and it’s something that was able to hold my attention on a regular basis. It’s been some time since those issues, though, and I couldn’t help but wonder if his opening storyline for JLA: Classified would be able to hit those same levels. Silly, silly me.

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I Am Legion: The Dancing Faun

Written by Fabien Nury
Art by John Cassaday
64 pages, color
Published by Humanoids/DC Comics

When Humanoids first announced I Am Legion, I was pretty excited about the news. John Cassaday, drawing a trilogy of oversized graphic albums printed with Humanoids’s typical high production values? Sounded like a real winner to me. Since that original signing and now, though, Humanoids has decided to team up with DC Comics for their English-language releases, and the finished project isn’t quite what I was expecting.

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Books of Magick: Life During Wartime #1-2

Story by Si Spencer and Neil Gaiman
Written by Si Spencer
Art by Dean Ormston
32 pages, color
Published by Vertigo/DC Comics

What do you do when one of your flagship books is, well, flagging? The Books of Magic started as a mini-series written by Neil Gaiman, introducing Tim Hunter as the world’s most powerful magician provided he headed down that path. Next was a 75-issue Books of Magic series written by John Ney Rieber and Peter Gross, and the Hunter: The Age of Magic series helmed by Dylan Horrocks. And for a while… nothing. Now Gaiman’s come back to the fold to help give a new series its initial push out of the gate, but is it too late for Tim Hunter to make a return?

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Manhunter #1

Written by Marc Andreyko
Penciled by Jesus Saiz
Inked by Jimmy Palmiotti
32 pages, color
Published by DC Comics

I have a confession to make. A couple of months ago, I saw the solicitation for Manhunter while writing Things to Come for Ninth Art and I almost completely wrote the series off. Then I took a look at the creative team and I had to reconsider. Marc Andreyko’s writing on Case Files: Sam & Twitch and The Lost is rated high with me, and the Jesus Saiz and Jimmy Palmiotti art team was strong on Midnight, Mass and 21 Down. So I promised to take a look at the series and see if these three could make me a believer.

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Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals

Written by George Perez, Len Wein, and Greg Potter
Penciled by George Perez
Inked by Bruce Patterson
192 pages, color
Published by DC Comics

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 15 years since George Perez (along with Len Wein and Greg Potter) revamped the Wonder Woman comic. Starting it over from scratch certainly had the potential to chase away existing readers while not picking up any new ones. What actually happened, though, was a series of comics helmed by Perez that are still talked about today as being the definitive modern interpretation of the character.

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100 Bullets #50

Written by Brian Azzarello
Art by Eduardo Risso
40 pages, color
Published by Vertigo/DC Comics

How do you handle an anniversary story? There seems to be two different schools of thought on the matter. The first option is to make it a big payoff for your existing audience, throwing in everything but the kitchen sink that’s lead up until that point, a continuity follower’s delight and incomprehensible to anyone else who stumbles into the adventure. The second option is to go the opposite route, making a story designed to appeal to brand-new readers, even as your established audience quietly yawns and waits for it to be over so the story can start moving forward again. Naturally, Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso have decided to take the third option that almost everyone else seems to ignore: make a story that lets new readers jump on board while still greatly advancing the storyline for your existing audience. And trust me when I say that Azzarello and Risso make that look far easier than it really is.

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Enginehead #1-2

Written by Joe Kelly
Art by Ted McKeever
32 pages, color
Published by Vertigo/DC Comics

I’ll be the first to admit that I love Ted McKeever’s art. I’ve got a bit of a blind spot to it, making me pick up books I might never have glanced at otherwise. And yes, that means it’s time to tell the truth: there’s no other reason that I would have read Enginehead #1-2. What I found, though, that’s another story entirely.

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Bite Club #1

Written by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman
Art by David Hahn
32 pages, color
Published by Vertigo/DC Comics

Which came first: the title or the concept? While not as theologically sticky as the whole “chicken or the egg” question, I think it’s still a legitimate query. It’s certainly a clever name for a series, evoking a certain image in the buyer’s mind. But did the title come about because of the contents of the series, or did Howard Chaykin and David Tischman retrofit certain ideas into the comic after he decided on a name? Because right now, I’m leaning towards the latter.

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