2020 Comics In Review - Part 1

We're into the new year, which means it's time for me to look back at comics from last year. Comics, the one meager ray of light in an otherwise unrelentingly bleak year. Like a penlight at the bottom of the ocean. As usual, I'm stretching this out over five days. The first four are for going over each title I bought. Who worked on it, general plot notes, maybe things I liked and disliked if I bought enough issues to figure it's worth it. With the pandemic shutting down comics for about two months, and disrupting the business for months after, there aren't as many books, so there won't be as many titles to get through.

The After Realm #1: Michael Avon Oeming writes and draws this quarterly series, with Taki Soma on colors and Shawn Lee on letters. He set it after Ragnarok, and the elves retreated to some sanctuary within the Earth, where they also imprisoned Loki. Except one young elf wants to go back up and find her friend, and in her impatience, wrecks everything. This is a quarterly series, and I think after the first issue it was probably going to focus on Oona running around a post-apocalyptic Earth trying to fix her mistakes. It seems like something I'd like, despite my general indifference to most swords & sorcery stuff, but it didn't land somehow.

Amethyst #1-6: I think this mini-series was playing off Bendis' Young Justice, but not having read that I'm not sure. I learned my lesson when it came to Bendis and team books, New Avengers made sure of that. Amy Reeder writes, draws, and colors Amethyst's return to a Gemworld that's nothing like what she remembers. Her kingdom is in ruins, her people frozen, and all the friends she thought she could count on turn up their nose at her.

High Point - I like the effort Reeder made to make each kingdom look distinct. Not just color schemes, but architecture. I don't know enough about gems to know if it corresponds to their qualities, but it was an attention to detail I appreciated. Also, Dark Opal being this melodramatic, practically loony villain. The guy was always evil and prone to dramatic gestures, but he's really over-the-top here. If they decide to make an Amethyst movie, some actor is gonna have a lot of fun chewing scenery as that guy. Make Ewan McGregor in Harley Quinn look like he was in a coma.

Low Point - I do think that, as a result of not having read that Young Justice storyline, I was at a loss for why things in Gemworld were in the state they were. Granting that the main character is in the same boat, but it never really gets cleared up, and I think that's because Reeder assumed we already knew what happened.

Atlantis Wasn't Built for Tourists #1-4: A stranger enters a peaceful little town, and finds out it holds a dark secret. But the stranger has a secret of his own. That's pretty much the plot Eric Palicki is working with, but that's fine, it's what you do with it. Wendell Cavalcanti handled art chores, with Mark Dale as colorist and Shawn Lee as letterer. It's a little frustrating in that they left certain questions unanswered for another story, so it isn't the entirely contained story I thought it would be.

High Point - I like how Lucas' apparent personality evolves over the course of the story, mostly seen in his refusal to just leave the town to its fate. First it seems like stubbornness, and maybe curiosity. Then it's almost like arrogance. Any trouble that arises, he can handle. Finally it shifts to him just not really giving a damn. If he's confident or arrogant, it's because the worst that can happen is he dies, and that doesn't bother him.

Also, I like the design of Lucas' monster side. It's maybe a little "Star Trek alien", just bumpy face, but he is half-human, so he probably shouldn't look too bizarre. And there's nothing that says he can't continue to evolve as he ages, if there are further stories.

Low Point - The one deputy being possessed by Cthulu, or a child of Cthulu or whatever, kind of came out of left field. It's another attempt to world build for a possible follow-up, I assume. I would have been fine with him just being half-yeti. I couldn't figure out why Cavalcanti did some of the close-up panels that he did.

Black Cat #8-12: The year started with Felicia and the Beetle stealing the plans for Iron Fist's Randall Gate, while Felicia tries to convince her mother to leave town for a while in an issue drawn by Dike Ruan and Annie Wu. Then Felicia went to Madripoor after a painting and had a two-issue team-up with Wolverine drawn by Kris Anka. Then she broke into Stark's place to use his equipment to build a dimensional resonator, aka a key, and to escape, built a remote-piloted suit of armor, too. C.F. Villa drew those two issues. Jed MacKay was the writer throughout, and Brian Reber and Ferran Delgado handled color and lettering duties.

Naturally, Marvel canceled the book. My luck runs true to form.

High Point - God, I love this book. Every one of those stories was fun for me. MacKay taking advantage of the wild settings of the Marvel universe to let Felicia pull cool heists on all sorts of people. Of the three, as tempting as it is to pick the story that makes Stark look like a chump as my favorite, I enjoyed Iron Fist just being giddy he gets to fight a thief for once, instead of someone trying to cut off his hands. Plus, Beetle getting knocked around by some chi-wielding martial arts kid cracked me up. 

Also, I liked Ruan's version of the Black Cat best. Anka's a stronger artist, but he draws her costume kind of oddly, and some of the expressions Logan made, while hilarious, are not ones I ever expected or needed to see on that guy.

Low Point - It'd be nice if the book could hold onto an artist for more than five minutes. Four artists in five issues, man.

Black Cat #1: Then Marvel brought it back. At least they let Jed MacKay keep his last artist (for now) in C.F. Villa, plus Reber and Delgado, but the book's starting with three issues of King in Black tie-ins. Blech. At least MacKay and Villa are trying to make it fit their book, by having Felicia focus on stealing Dr. Strange back from Knull.

That's it for Part 1. Tomorrow we move all the way into the H's. We've got one disappointing mini-series, one excellent one, one middling ongoing, and a couple of one-shots.