Panel from Doc Frankenstein #2
Local #10: I've mentioned it before, but Local is a near-perfect comic. Written by Brian Wood and drawn by Ryan Kelly, the book is achingly beautiful in its portrayal of the mundane. With a single character at its core, Local follows the year-to-year progression of Megan, who has made her choices - good and bad - and like the rest of us, has to live with them. But while Megan is the string tying everything together, it's a delicate thread. The more you read the more this title really turns out to be less a snapshot of someone's particular life and more a mirror to a life that can be uncomfortably familiar. Frankly, this is some of Wood's strongest writing and Kelly's art confidently evolves with each issue. Since each issue is a stand-alone story you can start anywhere without losing anything (though if you can get back issues, it will only enrich the experience). Plus, this one takes place in my town, so if I can't convince you that Local is a title that everyone should be reading, at least show Austin some love and pick up this book.
Which briefly sends Whip-Snap over the edge, something she'd been showing a propensity for with distressing regularity. I understand people deal with frustration and stress in different ways, but no one wants to see their superhero freaking out.
Finally, it was time for someone to go, and Hygena (neurotic slowpoke), Defuser (overbearing micro-manager), and Whip-Snap (breakdown artist) were on the chopping blocks. Sadly, and in spite of my high-hopes, Whip-Snap wasn't able to pull herself together enough to prove her potential and was eliminated!
Click to SAVE THE WORLD!!
Panels from Emo Boy Vol. 1: Nobody Cares About Anything Anyway,
First, yes - the new Blue Beetle is Latino.
Click to Kanigherize
Picking up where last week's episode left off, the heroes went back to the lair to find the place ransacked and worse, the safe holding their secret identities emptied and the Pencil Stan Lee Started His Career With gone.
Oh! Almost forgot! Whip-Snap cracked (pun alert) under the pressure and started crying, saying she isn't sure she can go on with the competition. From what I can tell Whip-Snap is estranged from her family and getting close to people only to see them sent away is taking a toll on her. She did manage to get mad at herself and shake it off, though. She needs to get mad more often because when she does she is both awesome and slightly scary.
Everyone was doing OK (Parthenon in particular is turning out to be focused, clever and fun; Hygena's getting a little annoying), and then there was a curve-ball. With time running out, a woman approached each hero and asked for help finding her daughter. All of them stopped what they were doing and started looking for the little girl - except for Basura.
Finally, it was time for the chopping blocks. Lee had a little crow for everyone to chew on, but this week it was Defuser, Hygena and Basura in the bottom three. And while Defuser is risking things by failing to learn how to lead without bossing people around, and Hygena is seemingly on the verge of a breakdown most of the time, Basura made an obvious screw-up and was eliminated.
Panel from Manhunter #30
Click for big top size
The third episode of Who Wants To Be A Superhero saw this season's first double-elimination, and it couldn't have been more deserved. After receiving a challenge from new supervillain Dr. Dark, the heroes had to split into teams of two at an amusement park, with one teammate riding a roller coaster to spot markers and the other running around looking for the numbers that will help unlock a door hiding the gleefully evil bad guy.
Back at the lair, the heroes had to write up case reports and critique their own - and their colleagues' - performance. This was a little bit of a surprise because it seemed like something other reality shows would do to force conflict in the group (which this was, really), but at least it was all anonymous so it injected tension without it becoming about personalities. Of course, it didn't help that Dr. Dark left a note implying that one of the heroes might be a mole working for him. Dun dun DUN!!!
Finally, it was on to the eliminations, with Mitzvah and Ms. Limelight on the red blocks once again. Do you realize they'd been in the bottom three in every episode? It's amazing they made it this far, but the ride was over for Mr. Mitzvah, who was eliminated. But wait! As the heroes begin to trudge back downstairs, Lee calls them back and puts Basura and Ms. Limelight back on the chopping blocks, and adds Hyper-Strike to make it three. After a little lecturing, Lee then told Ms. Limelight to hit the bricks because she was also eliminated! Ooh, a rare double-header!
Panel from Dark Horse Presents #1 (online)
Click for extra-large
BPRD : Killing Ground #1: This latest BPRD series picks up where the last mini, Garden of Souls, left off, which is fairly exciting since Garden was pretty kick-ass. Creator and writer Mike Mignola can seemingly do no wrong - especially when it comes to his Hellboy universe - and I'm looking forward to seeing where he and co-writer John Arcudi go with the snappy momentum they built up with the last storyline. The potential for new directions has been mapped out, new characters have been introduced, and the artwork by Guy Davis lends a nicely organic feel to the whole thing. If for some insane reason you haven't been reading BPRD, now would be a good time to get on board with what is consistently one of the best titles out there.
Panels from Excalibur #2
Caught in a supervillain trap so perfectly out of the Silver Age that it made me cackle, Mindset decided it was smart to either a) stay in character or, b) be a complete douche. Probably not the best idea, since the heroes were split up and stuck in two clear plastic boxes with a growing number of bees, forced to compete in a spelling bee administered by - who else - Bee Sting.
Which is where Mindset really blew it. Rather than apologize, or even acknowledge that he didn't really have his teams' best interests in mind, his swollen ego led him to keep saying, "I don't think I made a mistake - I did the right thing. I serve truth."
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Metal Men #1 (of 8): I'm going to say something that'll probably earn scorn from fellow comic nerds, but I was never really that into the Metal Men until they showed up in 52. In that title, the Metal Men (and their creator, Doc Magnus) provided a lot of the wacky fun and Silver Age-style concepts that kept me interested week after week. Hopefully that will carry over in this mini-series, because I love the idea of a group of sentient robots being led by a bipolar inventor in a fight against science-crime. Jeez, it almost sells itself! And the crazy, almost Deco-style art gives me hope that the writing will be in the same spirit. Check it out in this preview.
Thor #2: A lot of people complained that the first issue of Thor was too slow, apparently being too short of "thees," "thines" and flying Mjolnirs to satisfy. For my part, though, I thought the issue did was it was supposed to, namely reintroduce a well-known character who was supposed to be dead. Believe me, that's the kind of thing I want comic creators to take their time with. Besides, it did a nice job of setting the stage for issue #2, which I'm betting will crank up the Thunder God aspects a little more. I'm looking forward to seeing how the return of Thor plays out, and I appreciate the avoidance of oh-so-convenient shortcuts. Too slow? I say thee nay!
