2018 Year In Review - Part 1

The last two comics arrived Friday, let's get to this! As always, the first 4 parts are looking at all the different titles I bought this year, mention who worked on them, little bit about what the major story arcs were. If there were enough issues, we'll touch on the high and low points. Those can be anything. A particular issue, a joke, a fight scene, one of the artists if there was more than one. Part 5 is the point where I try and pick my favorite ongoing, trade, writers, from all the new stuff I bought.

I considered doing two days of just Marvel books, and everything else the other two days, but ultimately decided to stick with alphabetical order. I think it makes for a more interesting mix that way. Here we go.

Atomic Robo and the Spectre of Tomorrow #3-5: Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener, Anthony Clark, and Lee Powell as the creative team. Robo avoids taking any responsibility for getting his company up and running, instead choosing to hunt down the source of the weird artificial humans that are collapsing around the world. Which leads back to ALAN, but also to Helsingard.

High Point: The ongoing struggle with Richard Branson, who is abusing the hell out of the Homeowner's Association, and how Lang and Vik got Elon Musk to help them cancel the injunctions. The Battle To Be Able To Build Bathrooms was the defining conflict of 2018. Plus Robo stole one of Branson's private jets, then got it trashed. I'm here for prats who refer to themselves in third person getting comeuppance.

Low Point: The coloring was not doing Wegener's art any favors. Especially in the fight scenes, everything was so muddled. There were times Robo was just sort of a grey blob. Maybe it was Wegener and not Clark, I don't know. Maybe he's not inking the same way, but it's been more of an issue the last two mini-series. Otherwise I feel like I'd have been more into the battle on Hashima Island, but it was so visually unappealing.

Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers #1: Joshua Jabcuga, Tadd Glausha, Ryan Hill, and Tom Long as the creative team. It seemed like an exciting idea when it was first solicited. Then the first issue was at least a month late, and the second issue was two months after that (I think the fifth issue just shipped last week). But the gap was long enough for me to realize I don't really care about Elvis, unless Bruce Campbell is actually playing him. So there was no reason to be buying the book.

Cave Carson Has an Interstellar Eye #1-3: Jon Rivera, Michael Avon Oeming, Nick Filardi, and Clem Robins following up Cave's adventures underground and across dimensions by sending him into deep space. They got briefly tangled up in a civil war on an alien world, then kept moving, but I didn't go with them.

High Point: Filardi's coloring, with these vivid neon shades all over the place was pretty great. I was really impressed with some of Oeming's panel layouts, building structures out of the panels and things like that.

Low Point: I missed Wild Dog. He and Chloe had a cute friendship in the previous series. The doctor, Marcus Bastrow, I didn't was adding much. He was supposed to be kind of weird, but Cave was already doing stuff like using his eye to enter one psyche through another being's psyche, so how much weirder do you need?

Coda #1-7: Simon Spurrier and Matias Bergara, with Michael Doig assisting with the color work, and Colin Bell on lettering. Basically set in a post-apocalyptic medieval fantasy world. Following a bard who is trying to cure his mostly-heroic wife of her berserker tendencies, without bothering to consult her on that matter.

High Point: Bergara's art is fantastic, both the linework and the colors (although that's him and Doig, but I don't know who is doing what). I like the designs for the characters and the creatures, like the bard's increasingly mutated unicorn. At times he switches to a style that's supposed to look like charcoal or just ink drawings on parchment, and the variety of colors is impressive. It's a fun book to look at.

Low Point: Nothing really. I want to see how the second half of the story goes.

Copperhead #19, 20: Jay Faerber, Drew Moss, Ron Riley, and Thomas Mauer handled the first issue, then Scott Godlewski came back to draw the final story arc. Which, unfortunately has only managed to ship one issue in 8 months. The book is on hiatus now, so that's just swell. This is not the last time delays are going to be a problem with a book this year.

Deadpool #292-296: The penultimate story of Gerry Duggan' run on Deadpool, as Wade gets a series of good guys after him, while trying to fulfill the terms of his agreement with Stryfe. Basically five issues of Deadpool blaming everyone else for his problems, while everyone else calls him names and punches him. Matteo Lolli and Ruth Redmond handled art and color chores on 4 of the issues. Scott Koblish and Redmond handled the other, with Joe Sabino as letterer throughout.

High Point: The bit in 296 when Wade goads Captain America into stabbing him with his own sword, and immediately afterward, Cap realizes there were a bunch of schoolkids watching who think he's back being evil. Then he tricks him into punching some poor sewer maintenance guy, again in front of a bunch of other people. That whole issue of Wade pissing in Cap's cheerios was pretty great.

Low Point: Deadpool not killing HYDRA Captain America when he had the chance. I understand Wade's reason (to torment the other Captain America), but come on Wade, throw us a bone. Also, the constant attempts to get me to care about Agent Coulson by acting like everyone is pissed at Wade for killing him. Agent Preston I get, but Rogue gave a crap about this guy? Really? It doesn't help I remain unconvinced Coulson is actually dead. Also, Kitty Pryde being so disgusted Rogue would have briefly been with Deadpool got old in a hurry. Kitty dated Pete Wisdom and the idiot man-child version of Peter Quill, she doesn't have room to talk.

Demon: Hell is Earth #3-6: Andrew Constant, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Chris Sotomayor, and Tom Napolitano with this story about Etrigan's father trying to expand Hell onto Earth. Which splits Etrigan and Blood into separate entities, except Blood's immaterial. Madame Xandau is there, and Merlin, and they stop Hell from expanding its reach, and everything goes back to how it was before, more or less.

High Point: The fact that Blood keeps using himself as a duck blind. Get an enemy's attention focused on him, then let Etrigan attack right through him. Walker, Hennessy, and Sotomayor draw some excellent fire. Which is good considering how much of it there is in this story.

Low Point: I don't know what the point is supposed to be. Etrigan's rhymes are very basic, clunky, and just not clever or funny or anything. It's like they let me try to come up with his rhymes.

That's it for the first day. Tomorrow we have a couple of the very few ongoing series that I bought for the majority of the year, and a few other things.