June 9th, 2021
J.R.'s Picks:
DC Pride #1 – Celebrating the LGBTQIA+ characters of DC with LGBTQIA+ creators? There’s no better way to start off Pride month! James Tynion IV leads off with a poignant tale of Batwoman with drop dead gorgeous art from Trung Le Nguyen. Steve Orlando’s short sees John Constantine hit on Extraño who then tells a story of a Midnighter team up! Vita Ayala makes The Question look bad ass as usual. Harley and Ivy FINALLY talk about their relationship status thanks to Mariko Tamaki (if you don’t make this canon, I swear DC…) This isn’t even mentioning stories about Alan Scott, Future State Flash, Pied Piper and a huge team-up at a Pride parade. This is the best anthology I’ve read in an awfully long time and there have been some great ones recently- check this one out as soon as you can!
Heroes Reborn #6 – Power Princess takes the spotlight in this week’s action-packed main event issue. While she has a lot in common with Wonder Woman, especially in the back story department, PP seems to be a lot more in line with the Boys’s Queen Maeve. When she’s not kicking complete ass, she’s drinking a ton thanks to a magic mirror she got when she killed a particularly popular pair of siblings that are hinted at. Her nightly drink is interrupted with a huge amount of thunder that shakes the very core of the multiverse. Using her magical implements, she tracks down the source to a particular realm where all the gods there destroyed each other: Asgard. Guess who’s making the thunder? Another great issue in what should go down as one of Marvel’s best summer events.
6 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton #1 – Kyle Starks could write a phone book and it’d be the funniest thing you’d read in a while. This definitely holds true for his and Chris Schweizer’s new book in which a drunken asshole TV martial artist, a la Chuck Norris, is found in his apartment after an apparent suicide. The person who found him is his newest co-star, Miles Nguyen, who doesn’t believe this is a suicide after various clues he finds. At Trigger’s funeral, Miles meets the others who have co-starred who all have various grudges against what was truly a shit-pot of a man. With a mission and some clues, Miles and Trigger’s first sidekick Paul Hernandez start going down the list of former sidekicks to see whodunnit. Not only is it hilarious but they also drop the actual suicide hotline number during the story which I very much appreciated. Must read if you like to laugh!
Magic the Gathering #3 – Kaya, Vraska and Ral continue their search for who destroyed their guilds in this week’s newest Magic comic. Having slain the would-be assassins, the only way to interrogate them would be with Vraska’s necromancers. Unfortunately, Dimir spies minds are tampered with by their guild leader, so various enchantments and hexes within their brain erase their memories upon death. Vraska has an insidious work around, however, by which she turns them in fungal zombies which will instinctively head back home. Hopefully they consider home to be Dimir’s guild headquarters. This story is going places and unearthing the rich lore this game has built up over the years; definitely a story of this nerd’s dreams!
Diarra's Picks:
6 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton #1 - Famous actor and asshole, Trigger Keaton, was just found dead in his home. The only people in attendance of his funeral seem to do so obligatorily, including several people he shared a screen with. That includes Miles Nguyen, who found Keaton’s body, and maybe it’s the detective roll he’s been working on...but he thinks this was murder! The real cops won’t listen, so he recruits a couple of Trigger’s former costars for help. Nguyen knows when investing murder, find people in the victims life with motive. Unfortunately, everyone hates Trigger Keaton.
DC Pride #1 - DC has been doing an awesome job with these jam packed one shots! Marc Andreyko wrote a beautiful forward for this issue that really captured how this sort of representation feels. From the Pied Piper to Renee Montoya, we see LBTQIA+ characters kicking ass and embracing who they are! But as strong as they are, even heroes can have their feelings hurt and struggle with outsiders’ judgment. So whether you’re out and proud, still on your journey, or just an ally, this book is definitely a must read.
Bunny Mask #1 - When little Bee Foster misses a couple weeks of school social workers, Tyler and Juliette, make a house call. Leo Foster, father of Bee, greets Juliette with a stab in the gut and knocks out Tyler. When Tyler comes to he’s with Bee digging an underground tunnel that fits Leo’s delusions. After a month of capture, Tyler finds a new area in the caves covered in cave paintings and a cave person! This bunny masked savior helps Tyler, but he doesn’t remember much. So fourteen years later when he sees those cave drawings in a shop window he can’t believed it. Turns out Bee (or a wanna-bee) has decided to make art from her trauma. Bee and Tyler were both survivors of a horrific ordeal and decide to keep in touch. But a new set of detectives might’ve just found more secrets in those caves!
Stone's Picks:
Bunny Mask #1 - I've never read a book that made my teeth hurt, but the action in the first two pages alone left me with said pain. An insane man traps a medical professional named Tyler in a cave to dig for a secret that is know only to him. Tyler spends many days in the cave until he comes upon a hole that may lead him to his freedom. It may just be his opportunity to escape, but it also becomes the opening for an unknown force to break free. Years later, Tyler is still shook from the events that transpired in the cave, and whatever escaped has their sights set on him. If you enjoy creepy mysteries you should give this a shot.
Batman: The Detective #3 - Henri Ducard is on the brink of death. After taking him to the hospital, Bruce remembers just how he and Henri met, and how he became Bruce’s teacher in the art of manhunting. Their history is a complicated one that spans highs and lows. No doubt Henri played an integral part in the molding of Bruce into Batman. When we jump back to the present we see Bruce is in his hotel room, and he has a big surprise waiting outside the door for him. Another great issue that hurls the story into exciting territory!
Joker #4 - Joker and Gordon are face to face, but their reunion is cut short. Bane's daughter, Vengeance, is attacking where Joker is held up resulting in a firefight. Jokers contingency plan is nerve gas placed all around the surrounding area which causes Gordon to fall unconscious. When he awakes he witnesses a horrific act being performed by the Joker and another individual involved in the gassing. A conversation opens up new questions into who actually killed all the people at Arkham Asylum. There’s a lot of reference to the Killing Joke, and I think it’s been made clear that it was a traumatic moment in Gordon’s life, so I hope the story will stop bringing it back up every chance it can.