2018 Year In Review - Part 4

I bought a lot more back issues this year than I did new stuff, even without counting trade paperbacks and other collections. Some complete runs of series (all the '80s Amethyst stuff). In other cases, whatever scattered issues of a title I thought sounded good, like how I grabbed about two dozen issues of Power Man and Iron Fist, or Joe Casey's stint as writer on Adventures of Superman (which I need to backtrack to for Sunday Splash Page).  There were some misfires in there - I tried some of the '90s Guardians of the Galaxy series, and that was not my best idea - but most of the stuff was at least interesting.

Spider-Girls #1-3: Having learned nothing from that Darkhawk mini-series, I tried another ancillary tie-in to a Big Event comic, written by Jody Houser, penciled and inked by Andres Goulet, colored by Triona Farrell, and lettered by Joe Caramagna. Anya Corazon Spider-Girl and Mayday Parker Spider-Girl traveled to the Renew Your Vows universe where Pete and MJ's daughter might hold the key to stopping the Spider-Geddon event

High Point: I liked Goulet's art for it's clean look, but also the little details. The way all three characters web-swing a little differently. Peter Parker pacing up the wall and onto the ceiling while he's thinking. Those are nice touches. And it was nice to see Mayday and Annie each get to interact with a sister they could have had, if things had gone a little different.

Low Point: I guess the fact it's tied into an event I didn't care about. There's a vague resolution in that Annie might have seen a way to win, but we don't know if it worked. And Morlun's siblings are just barely there enough to qualify as a threat, and are hardly even in conflict with our heroes, that's a little unsatisfying even if I understand why.

Stellar #1-6: I thought this was an ongoing, but for now at least, it's a mini-series. Joseph Keatinge, Bret Blevins, and Rus Wooton, with a story about a pair of super-soldiers who won't leave their pasts behind.

High Point: I enjoyed Blevins' take on 1950s style sci-fi stuff, like giant robots and space ships, and so on. The basic initial concept of these soldiers trying to decide what to do after the war is over and nobody won was why I tried it in the first place. The repeated sense of time, years or decades, passing where Stellar or Zenith might go about their lives peacefully, only to fall back into old habits eventually was kind of sad, but handled well. One of those vicious cycles where neither one (but mostly Zenith) will just leave it be. They always have to hunt each other down and start again.

Low Point: There's a bit in the first issue where it's mentioned time and space seem to be damaged, or else whoever is in charge of keeping track of time is falling down on the job. I would have liked to see more with that. Spend more time in the ruined universe than the one that isn't devastated.

Street Angel - After School Kung-Fu Special: I think this was part of a larger story that had been released previously. It was $1, so I imagine the idea is to encourage you to get the whole thing. Although Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca at least had it end on a point that could sort of qualify as a conclusion. You can tell more could happen, but it's at moderately funny ending as it stands.

The Seeds #1, 2: Ann Nocenti and David Aja with a story of an Earth that's dying, and people are either unaware or unconcerned, but aliens are taking steps to preserve whatever they think is worthwhile. Aja works mostly in 9-panel grids, but shakes things up enough to keep it from getting too static, and I'm always curious about what Nocenti has going. Unfortunately, it's been three months and counting since I've seen an issue. Which is frustrating for what's supposed to be a 4-issue mini-series. But I'll wait. I expect it'll be worth it.

Tick 2017 #3: It seems like Cullen Bunn, JimmyZ, and Duane Redhead were doing a riff on Wolverine's time in Weapon X with the Tick. With a school in the middle of nowhere in Canada, and weird memory blocks, and a girlfriend he remembers sometimes, but not always. But it wasn't very funny, and there seemed to be big enough delays between issues I stopped looking for it.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #28-39: Ryan North, Rico Renzi, and Travis Lanham were on the book all year as writer, colorist, and letterer, respectively. Derek Charm took over for Erica Henderson as pencil artist in May. Doreen went to space to deal with some scammers, got stuck in a lethal escape room with Kraven the Hunter and her other friends, fought a librarian ghost, and then attended her own funeral.

High Point: I was fond of Drax promising intensive testing to find where Loki would be hurt most by stabbing. The Avengers getting trounced by a librarian ghost was funny, and should certainly humiliate them. The Silver Surfer was almost tolerable when he appeared. Brain Drain is a constant delight with his commentary and how excited he got about swimming pools. But the absolute high pont is that I accurately predicted that it was Mojo II: The Sequel behind the dangerous escape room. Look, just let me have this victory.

Low Point: In general, I feel like Charm's faces and body types are more generalized than Henderson's. Most notable to me for Nancy's design, but it's not a deal-breaker.

Unbelievable Gwenpool #24, 25: The last two issues of this series, by Chris Hastings and the Guruhiru art team, and Joe Caramagna. Gwen, having seen that refusing to be a world-destroying villain is going to cancel her book, or possibly end her existence, tries to pivot to a less destructive form of villainy. But that doesn't work, due to Batroc's good intentions, so a different future version of herself shows up to convince things aren't as doomed as she thinks. You just have to look at it another way. I miss this series.

Unstoppable Wasp #1: By Jeremy Whitley, the Guruhiru art team, and Joe Caramagna. There were definitely parts of this mini-series I think I would have enjoyed, but the first issue gave me the impression there was going to be a lot of focus on things I didn't care about, like Nadia's stress over coming up with some sort of invention to show the viability of her lab to investors.

And that's all the titles! Tomorrow comes the customary listing and comparing, where we try to make books and creative talent feel bad about themselves by one random schmuck on the Internet saying he doesn't like their work as much as someone else's.