2018 Year In Review - Part 3

In my annual artist tracking page count, 8 artists drew at least 110 pages of the stuff I bought this year. I'm surprised there were that many artists, considering how few series I bought for any extended period of time. But some of the publishers are still doing 22 pages an issue instead of 20, which helped Carla Speed McNeil and Ariela Kristantina hit 110 pages on the nose on their respective mini-series. Bret Blevins ended up at 120. David Baldeon is at roughly 141, I say roughly because there was one issue of Domino where he and Michael Shelfer were both credited as artists. I didn't see any pages that looked his style, so I don't know how many to count for him and presently I'm not counting any.

Four of the eight made it past the 154 page mark, all of them making the list for the first time. Matias Bergara (160) from his work on Coda. Derek Charm (160) taking over for Erica Henderson on Squirrel Girl. Ms. Marvel finally landed on a regular artist for the first time in three years, with Nico Leon at 214 pages. And this year's leader, at 220 pages, the regular artist for Giant Days, Max Sarin!

Infinity Countdown - Darkhawk #1-4: Chad Bowers and Chris Sims as writers, Gang Hyuk Lim handing all the art chores, with Travis Lanham as letterer. Man, this was a bad whiff. Lim's art was pretty, but lifeless, especially whenever there was fighting going on. And Sims and Bowers decided that what Darkhawk needed was a connection to the Phoenix Force. And that we need to have Darkhawk and Nova at each other's throats. Let's leave that I disagree with pretty much all of that. Not even bothering with "High Point, Low Point", because I don't know what I'd put down for a High Point. My fault for buying a Big Event tie-in mini-series.

Mata Hari #1-5: Emma Beeby, Ariela Kristantina, Pat Masioni, and Sal Cipriano with at least one possible version of Mata Hari's life, motivations, and true goals. It's one where she spends her whole life being punished for the feelings men have when they see her. Ostracized for making a living taking advantage of their feelings, and ultimately is used as a convenient scapegoat to disguise the incompetence of the French Army command in World War I. Is that accurate to history? We don't know.

High Point: I think Beeby weaves that notion about Margaretha suffering for the thoughts and impressions everyone else has of her in very well through the story. When she decides to make a living with a circus, she thinks she could use her horse-riding skills, but it's the ringmaster and the other performers who suggest she should be a dancer. And so she goes with it, to make a living, but it's one more thing people can use against her, that informs their opinions. (Although I wonder if we are supposed to trust her version of things.)

Low Point: I mean, it doesn't have a happy end, but I knew that was the case going in. There were some delays, so the last issue was three months late, but that's about it.

Mega Ghost #1: We'll get to a review of the book next week alongside Coda #7, but for now, it's about a young man interested in the occult who ends up with a cursed ring that lets him combine ghosts into a ghost mecha. Gabe Soria writes it, and Gideon Kendall handles the art, colors, and letters, with assists on the colors from Michael Robinson.

Ms. Marvel #26-36: G. Willow Wilson wrapping up her time writing the book, at least for now. Nico Leon drew almost all of this, except for a few pages in issue #31, that were drawn by one of Gustavo Duarte, Bob Quinn, or Elmo Bondoc. Ian Herring handled the color work, and Joe Caramagna was the letterer. The year started with Kamala missing, and a bunch of her friends forming the Legion of Substitute Ms. Marvels to fight off the creator of the Inventor, and his mech-assist reptile army. Bruno returned from Wakanda, leaving Kamala torn between him and Red Dagger. Then Shocker showed up trying to be the biggest villain in Jersey.

High Point: I love Shocker trying to be a big villain, complete with a not-at-all secret lair, filled with makeshift booby-traps. He seemed like he was having so much fun too. I love Nico Leon's designs for the chameleon or the giant cyborg snake thing. And that he has maintained the tradition started by Adrian Alphona of adding fun little details in the background (in issue #31, Abu's newspaper has a headline about a man winning the lottery and investing in cats, with a picture of a smiling guy surrounded by cats). Plus, the Substitute Ms. Marvels doing Power Ranger style poses before they leap into battle. And Kamala and Carol had a pleasant conversation to reaffirm their friendship after that Civil War II nonsense.

Low Point: I wasn't very fond of #36, the issue spent on why the guy she'd encountered while briefly lost in time thought he recognized her. Not sure how I felt about the low-key scene where Kamala finds out all her friends knew she was Ms. Marvel. Felt like that should have been a bigger deal, considering Nakia was annoyed at one point feeling she was left out of Kamala's life. Was that because she knew, or because she didn't, and the frustration faded once she understood?

Multiple Man #1-5: An extremely lengthy and convoluted mini-series involving time travel and alternate dimensions, written by Matt Rosenberg, drawn by Andy MacDonald, Tamra Bonvillain on colors, and Travis Lanham as letterer.

High Point: We have a Jamie Madrox back, and it sounds like Layla Miller and the son she had with Jamie are still alive (I thought they bought it when Jamie did in Inhumans vs. X-Men). The Marcos Martin covers were pretty cool. That's about it.

Low Point: For what the series was trying to accomplish, it was far more confusing than it needed to be. I'm not sure all the time travel and sequencing of when Madrox dupes came into being or were absorbed really works if you tried to sit down and map it out. Why does one of Bishop's allegedly timeline preserving bombs destroy an entire block, but another can't destroy one Madrox duplicate standing three feet away? It's all just a mess.

Rogue and Gambit #1, 2: Kelly Thompson, Pere Perez, Frank D'Armata, and Joe Carmagna send Rogue and Gambit to couples therapy! I gave up after two issues because while I was sorted interested in them rehashing some of their past history, I wasn't interested at all in the villain who was trying to swipe their memories or something. Still, the bit where Rogue points out Gambit has no business criticizing her for making out with Deadpool, and implies Wade is a better kisser than Remy, that was enjoyable. Gambit deserves every ounce of shit he gets, always.

Smooth Criminals #1, 2: A hacker of the '90s teaming up with an Unfrozen '60s Cat Burglar to steal an impressive diamond thing. They haven't gotten to that part yet, but we're only two issues in, I can wait. Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten Smith writing, Leisha Riddel as artist, Brittany Peer as color artist, and Ed Dukeshire as letterer. My only concern is that the second half of issue #2 was starting to look fairly rushed in the art. A little troubling with 10 more issues to go, but we'll see how it goes.

Hey, we managed to get through the three disappointing Marvel mini-series I bought last year! Thumbs up! Tomorrow, a few more mini-series, the last two issues of one series, and the only other ongoing I bought the entire year.