2017 Comics In Review - Part 2

My total number of new comics purchased in 2017 was 117, which is down three from last year, and seven from 2015. 72 of those comics were from Marvel, or 61.5%, roughly. So Marvel's total dropped by one for the second consecutive year, but its percentage actually went up (59.7% in 2015, 60.8% in 2016), because the total pie is shrinking faster. Cue Marvel execs high-fiving. "We're getting more!" But it's of a smaller pie. "But it's more of it!"

DC wound up with a total of 15 books, or around 12.8%. Which is up slightly from last year's 11 books and 9.2%. And if DC and Marvel both managed to increase their shares slightly, then yeah, all the other publishers totaled up a little less. 30 books this year, around 25.6%, down from 36 books and 30% in 2016. Unlike 2016, when IDW outpaced DC all by itself, no single tertiary publisher dominated. IDW, Boom, and Image each had 7, Dark Horse had 4, NEC and Joe Books had 2 a piece, and Scout Comics had 1. If the first three months of solicitations are anything to go by, Marvel's going to take a step back in 2018, and the smaller publishers may leap forward. Stat stuff is over, you can wake up now.

Deadpool #24, 25, 36, 287-291: I'm not wasting my time with the change in title. It's all Deadpool. Gerry Duggan is still writing the book. Matteo Lolli and Christian Dalla Vecchia illustrated a couple of issues, one with Ruth Redmond as colorist, the other with Guru eFx. Scott Koblish handled all the others, with Nick Filardi on colors. Joe Sabino's the letterer. Wade failed to finish Madcap, got himself in debt to Stryfe, and killed a Cable. There was also a stretch of seven months where I wasn't buying the book because it was busy crossing over with other titles and tying in to Secret Empire. Ain't nobody got time for that.

High Point: Well, when Wade screws things up, he does so spectacularly, no bones about it. Even if I was not exactly satisfied with the recent "Cable Dies" arc (more on that below), I enjoyed the moments where Wade is still and quiet. Those are unusual for him, and Koblish and Filardi did a great job showing the fatigue, the weariness in him. He's lost it all before, but it was never as much to lose as it was this time, and that's getting to him. And they sell it.

Low Point: That said, the "Cable Dies" arc was a disappointment. Complaints about pacing and stories feeling overly padded out aren't new, but still annoying. But having Cable hate Deadpool, and openly state he never has and never will trust him took some punch out of the conflict. You have Cable as the guy who still believes in Wade, maybe the last one who does, then I don't want Wade to kill him. You make Cable some grumpy asshole old man yelling about what a fuck-up Wade is. . . Even if I agree, the grumpy asshole old man doesn't get to say it. At that point I'm rooting for Wade to kill him, which is probably not the desired reaction. I mean, Duggan already did the story where someone makes Wade kill four people Wade doesn't care about.

Demon - Hell is Earth #1, 2: Jason Blood was being plagued by dreams that bring him to Death Valley. Then an eldritch nuke hits and unleashes a piece of Hell. And now Blood is a ghost haunting Etrigan while they try to figure out what's happening. Or Etrigan can just kill everyone. Andrew Constant, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessey, Chris Sotomayor, and Tom Napolitano have been the creative team so far. I think I'm mostly here to watch Blood and Etrigan play off each other, and watch Brad Walker draw hellscapes. The stuff about the mysterious kid doesn't intrigue me much yet.

Empowered and Sistah Spooky's High School Hell #1: Well, I just reviewed this last week, but Adam Warren, Carla Speed McNeil, and Jenn Manley Lee have the demon who gave Spooky her powers out for revenge, and Emp got dragged along into Hell with her. I expect McNeil will make it all look very disturbing. Those giant, partially dissected frogs were a good start.

Empowered - Soldier of Love #1-3: Adam Warren, Karla Diaz, and Nate Piekos set an embittered one of those "magical girls" to Emp's city looking to destroy love there once and for all. Because she figures everyone will be so much better off without that sappy delusion clouding their judgment. It's all a bunch of crap anyway, right?

High Point: Diaz' design for the "Soldato del Amor" was pretty great. The combination of the frilly skirt with the beret and the e-cig. Plus, magical talking pangolin companion. Diaz' art gave her a lot of personality, most of it ugly. She draws an excellent smug grin. By partway through the third issue, you really want anyone to show up and punch the Soldato right in the chops.

Low Point: I don't have one for this. It happens sometimes. I'm just such a happy and positive person! The previous sentence is a lie.

Giant Days #29-33: The continuing adventures of three friends in college. These five issues mostly revolved around Esther and Susan hating Daisy's girlfriend, and the three of them trying to decide on housing arrangements for the coming year. John Allison, Max Sarin, Liz Fleming, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell are on the creative team for each issue. Irene Flores handled some of the inking chores in #31, and Kieran Quigley did some of the color work along with Cogar on that issue as well.

High Point: I love the pacing. You can never be sure when a plot thread is going to come to a head, or what's going to result from it. There's always something happening, and the book is alternately touching and hilarious. The Sarin/Fleming/Cogar are team sells it. The knack for being able to do silly and over-the-top when that's what's called for (mostly with Esther, because she's very dramatic, and there's a panel where she explains what she did to rivals in school that I love), or small things with body language and expressions that say a lot. I'm continually impressed by the book. For a specific scene, the sequence in the pub that begins when Daisy starts hustling pool to pay the electric bill, and ends with Emilia stopping her brother from pummeling McGraw and Ed.

Low Point: Nothing. Was the last lie actually a truth? Ha. No.

Great Lakes Avengers #4-7: For about five minutes, the GLA owned the Avengers' name somehow or the other, and set up shop in Detroit, where they fought a crooked politician. Until their newest member mauled him. Then Bertha got roped in by some creepy doctor who wanted to duplicate her power and went on a rampage, but they stopped him. Then Deadpool showed up to tell them they were canceled. You have the year he's had, you take your jollies where you can. Zac Gorman wrote all the issues, and Tamra Bonvillain colored them, Wil Robson drew most of them, except issue 4, which was drawn by Jacob Chabot.

High Point: The page where their newest member decides the evil councilman needs to die looked good. Chabot and Bonvillain captured the feel of one of the old horror comics (kind of important since the team member was a werewolf). I liked Doorman's issues with having been on a different plane so long he can't remember basic things like his age or what powers he has. There was something there, in the different perspective he has from the rest of the team.

Low Point: I couldn't get into Robson's art. Characters' facial expressions were over the top all the time. Comically demented or angry, even at times when they weren't supposed to be. Wasn't that into the evil doctor storyline, so issues 5 and 6 were mostly a drag. It was one of those books I was buying because there was potential for them to do something I'd really enjoy, but there was no guarantee they'd ever actually do it.

Hulk #9: Mariko Tamaki, Julian Lopez and Francesco Gaston, Matt Milla, and Cory Petit worked on this issue. I bought it because Jennifer Walters was supposed to interact with Patsy Walker for the first time since Bendis put Jen in a coma for Civil War II. Given that Jennifer has been going through some stuff in this book, it seemed odd her friend wouldn't be trying to help. They talked on the phone for about two pages. Calvin's a sucker, sing along now.

Iron Fist #1, 2, 5: The book started with Danny having no connection to the old Iron Fist chi, and trying to rekindle it with a tournament. That didn't work for me, but I came back a couple of issues later when he was supposed to team up with Shang-Chi. That didn't take either. I can't get into Ed Brisson's take on Danny Rand, where he's kind of a pitiful fight junkie. Mike Perkins did some good stuff in some of the fight scenes, overall his art isn't to my taste. Andy Troy's colors all appear washed out and muddied, even when it's a bright daytime scene. Just didn't work for me.

Day 2 done. Tomorrow, there's one series that made it through the whole year, plus a bunch of stuff I dropped after a couple issues, and a couple of one-shots.