December 14th, 2022
Caroline's Picks:
Invincible Iron Man #1 - Tony Stark is back as the Invincible Iron Man, but he is not doing better than ever. He’s been pretty insanely down on his luck with everything as of late, living in a small New York Brownstone and practically broke. Well broke for Tony anyway. He’s got just one suit, a couple of friends still sticking by his side, and the best ‘student’ he could ask for. He’s focused on making himself better than before, putting in the work to make the changes necessary. First up is tracking down as much dangerous weapons tech he can and hiding it in a warehouse that nobody but Rhodey know the location of (hello foreshadowing, how are you today?). After that it's time to tinker and invent as he does best. One unexpected explosion in his residential apartment complex later and he’s reconsidering things. None of his team, including Riri, can figure out what happened to his reactor to make it crash like that. And even worse there are more suits like his out there coming after him. His life is spiraling out of control, and fast, and Tony needs help. Hopefully he gets it before it's too late.
Night Club #1 - Danny Garcia wants to be famous, a superstar with lots of money and sponsorships. The solution: start a Youtube channel with his friends where he does wild parkour stunts for views. Things inevitably go wrong when three high school kids from Philly get out their phones and decide to do stunts on top of buildings and Danny seems to be highly unlikely to be doing much of anything besides resting for a long time. Then comes Detective Nick Laskaras, a man, and a Vampire, building an army for the future. He doesn’t really give Danny a choice in the matter, changing him to save him. He’s been slowly gathering those who have no options left, giving them a second chance at life and a chance to save the world. But Danny, well Danny still has a few get rich quick schemes up his sleeve.
A Vicious Circle #1 - I genuinely was not expecting to enjoy this issue as much as I did. I went in not knowing anything about the series other than the title and I am absolutely hooked on the plot. Shawn Thacker is your average man: he’s got a loving wife, adorable son, nice house with the front porch, and a wonderful cellar filled with his deepest, darkest secret.The only rule in the house is not no one other than Shawn goes down into the cellar, there’s a monster down there. The day the monster gets out changes Shawn's life dramatically, throwing him back into a chase he hasn’t participated in in years and it shows dramatically. Shawn isn’t from out time, he’s from the future, sent back in history to prevent some dangerous machine from ever being turned on. So of course his monster is the man sent to turn that same machine on. The only problem is every time our big bad kills someone he and Shawn are thrown into a random, different time period. They only travel with what they have on them, no idea what's the next jump or where the next death will take them. Shawn just has to make sure it isn’t his.
Monica Rambeau Photon #1 - I’m so happy to see that Marvel is finally letting some of the minor and next generation characters get their chance to shine in the comics lately. And with the issue being a quick read and an easy starting point to learn about her character I'm hoping more people jump on board before we see her again in the MCU. Monic Rambeau is finally getting her chance to make a mark on the world as herself, Photon, not Captain Marvel 2.0 or anyone else. She’s saved the world several times over, it's about time someone remembered her name. At least Doctor Strange and Wong can figure it out. Unluckily for her though it seems she’s managed to garner a new enemy, Hinge, who turns out to be one of Spidey’s old scientist friends.This time around though she isn’t there to help Spidey and Co save the day. No she’s come because Monica Rambeau is supposedly going to destroy the universe and she must be stopped. Crazy right? Seems the rest of our heroes think so too, and Monica doesn’t have much time to dwell on work drama when her family is having problems of their own. Eve Ewing did a wonderful job of showing us the internal dialogue of a woman who is trying so hard to make a name for herself and do some good while constantly being ignored and feeling like she isn’t making the difference she thought she could and i can’t wait to see how she develops the character over the series.
K's Picks:
Batman/Spawn #1 - Am I the only one that got slight Supes V. Bat vibes from this? Horrible movies aside, let's talk about something good! Image and DC finally brought back a classic tale of two legends colliding! On the anniversary of the death of Bruce's parents (spoiler) we see Bruce and Alfred enjoying their night like nothing horrible ever happened. Bruce's nights are spent busting bad guys and stopping crimes. Even in his most somber (anniversary) day, Bruce can't get a break, especially considering an infamous Hellspawn is after him. A very enjoyable read and some nice references to the OG story, like Spawn having a bandage over his face where the Batarang was lodged in the original story. I also love how different Spawn is from Batman. The fact that Spawn will murder and rip someone to shreds went completely past me, so seeing Bruce's reaction made for some really dope scenes. It also goes without saying the art was phenomenal - I mean, Spawn is involved so we need a ton of flowing capes but god does it look so good here! Definitely grab a copy, it has a lot of really dope covers and it's a fun short read. We even get one of the most horrifying Jokers in this one!
Deadpool #2 - Damn. Writer Alyssa Wong is good. Deadpool is a character that can fall flat pretty easily, especially in this day and age of the over-saturation of the red clad mercenary. Last time we left off we got another excuse to use Carnage again. He's a symbiote baddie I have a particular soft spot for and Doc Ock is the target of our symbiote hosting hero! Yes there's a Carnage symbiote inside Wade's body! It's insane and I love the concept of Carnage and Deadpool getting all buddy-buddy again. While dealing with an organ hungry symbiote and meeting the deadline to assassinate Octavious, we are mainly left with the fight from last issue. There's a lot of jokes that had me either rolling my eyes or just down right chuckling, it's pretty good. This was a rollercoaster of an issue with just the fight sequence alone, I just want to see what will come out of it all.
Gospel #2 - Pitt and Matilde are officially on an adventure, but at what cost and for what gain?! Gospel's first issue was definitely something that caught my attention. From the dynamic paneling to the hard feeling of impact and energy, it was probably the strongest first impression I've had in a while. There's a lot of care and depth in each panel with amazing art and some really well placed story beats. Last we left off, St. Rumpus Church was burned to the ground, the culprit appears to be some bipedal goat like demon cloaked in pentagram robes. With this mysterious creature afoot, Matilde creates a band of fighters and citizens to hunt the creature, with very little success. With her wits lost she's accompanied by Pitt to find a way to kill this Devil. In a story about stories and myths I really wonder if the devil is actually real or just some dude? We haven't seen anything supernatural so far, so I wonder what or who it is above all else. I'm really digging the time period and writing style. It doesn't feel rushed and we don't need long drawn out fights to maintain tension and cohesion, the conversations alone are really well kept. Give this one a read if you're more intrigued by a less erratic style of writing and gorgeous art.