By Phil Jimenez
While travelling to meet her biological father for the very first time, Donna Troy reflects on her life, her loves, and her loses. I gave up on the latest Titans series as soon as Nicola Scott stopped drawing it, but I rushed out to read this annual as soon as it came out because Jimenez returning to create a new Donna Troy story is like finding an oasis after roaming the desert and then discovering it also has a free spa. This is a beautifully written and illustrated love letter to the original Wonder Girl, and also a major attempt to finally clear up and make sense of her incredibly tangled history. Wisely, Jimenez doesn't try to give Donna another new origin, but reinstates her original one and build everything else around that. Sure, her creepy marriage with Terry is back in continuity, but at least here it is called out for the mistake that it was and Terry himself dismissed as someone Donna “Doesn't really think about anymore”.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
By Grant Morrison, Mark Miller, and Others
Towards the end of 1997, Mark Waid decided that after five years of writing The Flash he needed a break and took a year off the title. Fortunately, Grant Morrison was more than happy to fill-in for Waid during his absence. Unfortunately, they also brought f**king Mark Miller along with them and even left him alone unsupervised. The result is a really weird and uneven run where we get moments of Morrison's delightfully loony imagination paired with Miller's overwhelming need to be as obnoxiously edgy as possible. Wally's bitter inner monologue during 'The Black Flash' three-parter, which Miller wrote solo, is just unbearable to read.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
By Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott
Rowan Black works as a homicide detective for the Portsmouth Police Department who also happens to secretly be a witch. Now a new case is about to send the two sides of her life crashing into each other. With its interesting mix of crime drama and the supernatural, this is one of those creator owned series that feels more like an extended pitch for a TV show. Which I completely understand. Even when working for the major publishers, making comics doesn't pay as much as it should. Far too many writers and artists have died in debt or poverty after creating characters worth millions. So I don't blame any for trying to make whatever money they can. I loved Scott's black and white artwork and how colour is only used when magic is, but the plot is in no hurry to get where it's going and this is one of those indies that obviously isn't such a big seller than the creators can devote all their time to it, which is why it has been on hiatus for the past five years.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
By Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić
Decades in the future, a Xenomorph infestation from another universe has ravaged most of the galaxy. What remains of the Avengers fights to keep the few survivors alive and escape the devastated planet Earth. Normally I skip these kind of crossovers, they can be fun, but majority of the time are just lazy cash-ins. This one, however, caught my eye because it was written by Hickman, the biggest writer working at Marvel and by far one of the most interesting. Ribić handling the artwork did give me cause for concern, not because he's bad (although his faces are often rather odd), but because he can be a tad tardy and certainly was with this series, taking a year to knock out just four issues. As frustrating as the release schedule was, I can't really complain about the finish product. I'm just amazed how effortless Hickman was able to tie these two franchises together, effectively writing his own alternative version of Alien: Covenant mixed with his previous Marvel work and even ends up feeling like a fitting epilogue to his time on X-Men.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
By Cullen Bunn, Tyler Crook, and Others
On her 18th birthday, Emmy Crawford learns about the secret horrors that luck in the woods surrounding her home of Harrow County as well as her own connection with the long dead witch Hester Beck. I'm not a big fan of gore so any gruesome horror story has to have a really gripping story and strong characters to pull me in and keep me hooked through all the gory bloodshed. Fortunately, that was very much the case with Harrow County, a deliciously deranged piece of Southern Gothic horror. The only major issue I had with it was that the ending was somewhat abrupt, it was very “That's it, fight's over, story's done”. I was hoping for a bit more of an epilogue, which is why I jump right to one of the spin-off series which continued Emmy's story, but that ended on a cliffhanger in 2022 that still hasn't been resolved so I'm even more unsatisfied than I was before.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
By Mark Waid and Ron Garney
In 1995, Mark Gruenwald brought to an end his decade long run as writer on Captain America. It's probably fair to say that the series had been running on fumes for the last few years of Gruenwald's run, but Marvel's editorial team had a plan to turn things around and boost sales by getting rising stars Mark Waid and Ron Garney to take over. The initial Waid/Garney run is nothing groundbreaking, it's a solid, back to basics take on the character that places a lot of emphasis on fast paced action. Sharon Carter was brought back after being presumed dead for over a decade, but can't say I was a fan of the “Why didn't you look for me?” conflict between her and Steve. But for all its faults, this run really did feel like it was taking the series in the right direction. Too bad that the corporate side of the business had other ideas. After just eleven issues, Waid and Garney were taken off the title so it could be outsourced to Rob Liefeld as part of the Heroes Reborn initiative, which undid all the good work they were trying to do and turned the series into a complete laughing stock. He was quickly fired, and Waid and Garney were eventually reinstated, but Liefeld's terrible take on Cap continues to haunt us to this day.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love comments! Just note that we always moderate because of spam and trolls. It's never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.