Holy Hangover, Batman

Reason #1 SAGA is my favorite series right now. From page 8 of SAGA #3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

Today is SAGA #1 day. You’re getting it right? It’s 44 pages for THREE BUCKS, which is more than twice as many pages of content than you’re going to get from other comics that will charge you a dollar more. But that’s not why you should buy it—you should buy it because this is just the beginning of a new, great comic book from two brilliant creators.

For me, this is a pretty great piece of synchronicity, as this book is about the birth of a child, written by my favorite comics writer, and it comes out on the day that my good friend Tim welcomed a baby girl into his family. I know what I’m giving baby Tate on her 18th birthday. 

From O.M.A.C. #7 by Dan DiDio, Keith Giffen, and Scott Koblish. Just some damn fun comics.

Nick Spencer and Riley Rossmo introduce Bedlam, cover art by Walter O’Neal. 

This too, I’m excited for. I’ll be honest with y’all, I’m probably more excited for these great Image books than I am for any other company book. 

kierongillen:

And I write some top level notes about it over on the blog.

I am so happy this is back. Also, Ned, if you want a comic that was almost made specifically for your sensibilities—Phonogram is it. Look into it. 

From T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, vol. 2, No. 1, written by Nick Spencer and drawn by Wes Craig. 

I really liked this particularly human moment between Colleen and Toby where they’re talking about the Menthor helmet and how Jennings, the creator of the suits the agents wear that give them their power, put a safeguard into the helmet. The inventor, Colleen says, “realizes he can’t always make the wearer of the helmet a good person. He realizes there will be military applications and he can’t force morality on the machine outright,” but it can “improve the human condition.”

The helmet makes the wearer do something that will improve the condition of the person. It will protect the philosophy of what makes us who we are. That’s going above and beyond in terms of justifying power and I think that’s why this series is one of my favorites of the year, because the drama is rooted in character and the superhuman suits these people wear have a cost on the lives of the people who wield them.

Also, I thought it was rather sad that Cafu was put on another book, but I have to say Wes Craig’s character work is really great. The expressions alone have a distinct, perfectly human affectation to them.  

There is only one word that I would use to describe Batman #5 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo: Kubrick-like.