As the summer wind comes blowin’ in, from across the sea, here’s everything I read in the exceedingly fast month of June.
Batman: Daylight Vol. 1 by Matt Fraction, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey • 5 Stars on Goodreads
I know a lot of you kids out there are all hepped up on Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s Absolute Batman, but that’s not my cup of tea. For my money—or tea leaves—Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez’s current run on the Caped Crusader’s “regular” title is the real deal and the one book that will get me to make the trek to my local comics shop when it comes out each month, even if it’s the only book I buy that week. The regular Batman title has had a trio of good writers since Snyder departed the book: James Tynion IV, followed by Chip Zdarsky, and now Fraction. To be honest, both Tynion and Zdarsky stayed a little too long on the title (but pound-for-pound, Zdarksy’s first story arc/TPB collection, “Failsafe,” is one of my all-time favorite Bat-tales), but Fraction is operating on a whole different level, one not seen since Frank Miller 40 years ago. His writing is complicated, sophisticated, and even wry at times and perfectly complimented by Jimenez’s art (he’s been the one constant over all three previously mentioned writers, too). I love everything about this book, including Tomeu Morey’s color art. So go off into your little Absolute Universe and enjoy yourself. I’ll stay right here with MY Batman and be perfectly fine. You will too, if you decide to join me.
Gotham Central Book 1: In the Line of Duty by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Michael Lark • 5 Stars on Goodreads
I bought Gotham Central as a comic book series when it first came out in the early 2000s and loved it then. And of course, I bought the original trade paperbacks when they first came out to read them all again. The noirish aspect of the series coupled with the weirdness of the Gotham villains that the police had to put up with on a daily basis, plus the brief appearances of Batman, all really appealed to me. Brubaker and Rucka certainly channeled cop series from TV and their various GCPD detectives were great characters. I recently bought this first volume again, which collects issues 1 through 10, in DC’s Compact Comics series, which offers some of the company’s greatest hits at the bargain price of $9.99. I have been resistant to this relatively new format up until now for a number of reasons. I think the paper—a glorified version of newsprint—is horrible, and when you have something that is intensely colored (like most comics are these days), the finished product on this paper looks dark and muddy. But Michael Lark’s minimalist art style, coupled with a very limited palette, makes this series particularly readable in this budget format. I’m still not thrilled with reading something at this size, although I will admit that the format is great, and I applaud DC for coming up with it (Marvel’s “Premier Collection” editions have better paper but cost $5.00 more … but even they’ve jumped on the Compact Comics bandwagon with a slightly smaller format for $9.99, starting with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, solely, I guess, for the movie tie-in—‘cause those stories aren’t worth reprinting IMHO). But these old eyes had a hard time reading some of this volume, so I may hold off on subsequent purchases of Compact Comics. I certainly would NOT recommend something like Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow in this format. You’re doing yourself a disservice looking at Bilquis Evely’s exquisite art on crappy paper at an almost-digest size, but I understand comic book newbies looking for a Supergirl story after seeing the movie may gravitate to this cheap purchase.
DC Finest Deadman: How Many Times Can a Guy Die? by Arnold Drake, Jack Miller, and Neal Adams • 4 Stars on Goodreads
This 572-page volume features all of the earliest Deadman stories, starting with Strange Adventures 205, and covers the years 1967 through 1977. Created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino, who drew only the first issue, Deadman soon became one of the DC heroes most associated with Neal Adams, who took over with the character’s second issue and went on to draw and eventually write the rest of Deadman’s run in that title, through issue 216. Adams also drew the first two Batman/Deadman team-ups in The Brave and the Bold (issues 79 and 86), both which are included here, along with issues 104 and 133, drawn by Jim Aparo, and written by Bob Haney. Adams continued Deadman’s tales in a three-issue arc as a backup feature in Aquaman, but Deadman was one of those 1960s heroes who never quite fit in to the then-DCU, and this volume echos his character arc of roaming the Earth, searching for some peace. This volume also includes some unwieldy stories in Forever People 9 and 10 by Jack Kirby, plus appearances in Challengers of the Unknown 74, Justice League of America 94 (with some art by Adams), and (in a fit that made more sense) Phantom Stranger issues 33 and 39-41. There’s also a couple of awkward World’s Finest stories (223 and 227) and a Superman Family appearance (issue 183) that really don’t work at all. For those that don’t know, Deadman is famed circus aerialist Boston Brand, who is murdered in mid-performance and forced to haunt the world until he finds his killer, a man with a hook for one hand. With the many writers who tackle the character in this book, I’m not really sure Deadman ever got any real peace, but Neal Adams sure made him look good while he was looking. The artist’s work on Deadman was mind-blowing in the staid 1960s world of DC’s various house looks dictated by editors.
DC Finest Sgt. Rock: The Rock of Easy Co. by Robert Kanigher, Bob Haney, Joe Kubert • 3 Stars on Goodreads
I was curious about this recent DC Finest volume because I enjoyed the previous War one, and in hindsight I almost wish I didn’t buy it. Reading tale after tale of Sgt. Rock—almost all written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Joe Kubert—a real sense of sameness sets in. Kanigher’s stories have pretty much just Rock as the main character, almost always dealing with a new member of Easy Company, who is either troubled or thinks he’s indestructible or has delusions of grandeur, and Rock has to try and make them a dependable member of his unit. As for everybody else in Easy, you get almost no sense of their personalities, and it takes until page 459, with the cover of Our Army at War 112 (November 1961) to even get an idea of who all is in Easy Co., and issue 120 (July 1962) finally reveals the “origins” of Bulldozer, Wild Man, and Ice Cream Soldier, the latter of which I swear dies twice in this book, only to be back in the following issue with no explanation. The art is wonderful—if it’s not by Kubert, there’s Jerry Grandenetti or Irv Novick or the great Russ Heath—but nobody draws grizzled World War II-weary soldiers like Kubert, the king of gritty beard stubble. I particularly love the way Kubert drops the borders on some panels, pretty much on each page; it really makes some of the action stand out. Kanigher relies on too many cliches in his writing—you’ll read “the combat-happy joes of Easy Co!” countless times in this book, sometimes multiple times on the same page. And one thing that becomes exceedingly clear in this volume: These stories were not designed to be read this way. They’re one-offs, with no issue-to-issue continuity, and I think this is why I prefer Sgt. Fury to Sgt. Rock: You got a real sense of who the Howling Commandos were in the Fury book, especially when Gary Friedrich was writing it. While I know Kubert’s art keeps evolving and he eventually becomes the editor of Our Army at War (and the title becomes Sgt. Rock), I think I’ll skip any subsequent volume.
Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg • 3 Stars on Goodreads
I will say this about Lee Goldberg: Even though I’ve read ten of his books (all six Eve Ronin novels, three Sharpe & Walker, and Calexico, a standalone), he always surprises me. I’m eagerly awaiting the seventh Ronin novel this fall, titled Split Screen, but in the meantime, we have the first volume in a new series featuring rich, handsome, and brilliant—if flawed—Edison Bixby, a former LAPD detective, now a private investigator for an insurance company due to a … well, let’s say injury in the line of duty. This novel introduces Bixby and his sidekick, wannabee actor Wally Nash, hired by the insurance company to keep Bixby from offending everyone he meets, an unfortunate side effect of his injury. Bixby sees murder everywhere through the design of everyday life: Cars, buildings, you name it, he’ll find a way to explain how it can and will kill you, thus making everything an accomplice. This is a twisty-turn novel that leans into a kind of cozy mystery vibe, and has a lot more humor than the Ronin and S&W books, although both have their moments in that vein. Bixby and Nash are very much a TV series friendly “odd couple,” and this reads like possibly a failed attempt to pitch a new show to a streamer or a cable channel like USA or TNT, if they still do new scripted shows. Goldberg worked on series such as Diagnosis: Murder and Monk once upon a time, so it’s possible. Anyway, a second novel, The Invisible Architect, is already slated for next spring, and I’ll give it a whirl, but if you’re at the computer, Mr. Goldberg … I’d much rather an eighth Ronin novel, please. This one was enjoyable but didn’t have the kick of our girl Eve.
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