I was looking back all the way to when I started keeping track of new comic purchases, meaning 2006, and this year combined third-party publishers finally passed DC, 376 to 347 (Marvel's at 1257). None of the individual publishers are close to DC, obviously, with Boom holding a narrow 76-71 lead over IDW. Then Dark Horse at 59 comics, and Image at 47. I haven't bought anything from Red 5 since 2014 and it's still in 5th place at 30.
Hedra: Jesse Lonergan wrote and drew this one-shot about an astronaut who sets out in search of life that can be transplanted on Earth to help revive it. Unlike in Canopus, the astronaut ends up helping rescue a cosmic entity who gives her the power necessary to help Earth. It's interesting most for the design approach, with Lonergan working mostly in a 5x7 panel grid that he modifies as necessary. A lot of empty panels, or panels with a single line arcing through them to show the trajectory of a spaceship or some other movement. It's a minimalist story, no dialogue, but it's fun to see how he guides the eye around the page and plays with the grids.
Infinity 8 #18: This was the third and final chapter of the sixth storyarc, with Franck Biancarelli as artist this time. They send a customs officer out with an archaeologist/smuggler to investigate the space mausoleum, and while it seems like they get the answers they need as to its purpose, there's the disturbing fact they find the corpse of the archaeologist floating out there, while he's still very much alive. On to the 7th iteration then, although after this, the publishing switched from Lion's Forge (which merged with Oni Press) to Magnetic Press, and they skipped directly to hardcover collections.
Kaiju Score #1, 2: Using a kaiju landfall as cover for stealing some nice paintings. Except the crew is a bunch of screw-ups that don't trust each other, and the guy that planned it always misses one key detail. James Patrick's dialogue is snappy enough for some good lines, and Rem Broo's art is lively, if maybe a little exaggerated to the point the characters look like they're mugging for the camera sometimes.
Locke and Key - In Pale Battalions Go #1, 2: Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez went back to World War 1 for this, as one of Locke sons decides to take the keys and sneak off to Europe to fight in the war. Gotta get those Huns, dontcha know. This, of course, ended horribly for his family and though I didn't buy the third and final issue, it didn't end well for the kid, either. Surprise, surprise. It was just so obvious the kid was being a moron and it was going to bite him in the ass it was hard to care.
Power Pack #1, 2: Part of Marvel's sort-of forgotten event Outlawed, where the authorities decide to only act in a totalitarian manner towards teenage vigilantes. It feels more like Ryan North just wanted an excuse to tell a fun story with the Power Pack. So he pretty much acknowledged the event as much as he had to in issue 2, and my hunch is he'll ignore it from here on out. Which is absolutely fine with me. I'm not sure his tendency for repeat gags necessarily plays to Nico Leon's strength as an artist. Leon's stint on Ms. Marvel showed a real knack for fun background details, and all these little panels don't lend themselves to that. But he's got a good grasp of kid expressions, so it's working.
High Point - Cowan and Sienkiewicz' art is always a plus. Sotomayor keeps the color scheme atmospheric, but not so dark and gloomy you can't see anything, which seems like it could have been a real problem with Sienkiewicz' inks.
Low Point - I didn't love the ending. I get that it's no good to show that all the systemic ills can be cured by just punching out one bad guy. That wouldn't address all the underlying issues that feed into the problems. But if that one bad guy has been working to make things worse, to crank up the pressure because it benefits him, then stopping that guy does mean something. But Lemire treats it as Vic's just been wasting time when he should have been doing more as a reporter. Right, because the press is doing such a great job these days. Lemire's never written anything that's really worked for me, and this didn't break the streak.
Rogue Planet #1: Speaking of writers whose work never does anything for me, here's a mini-series written by Cullen Bunn, with Andy MacDonald and Nick Filardi on art and color duties, about a salvage crew landing on a planet that simply drifts through interstellar space. They aren't the first to visit, and won't be the last to die there I imagine. But, as usual, Bunn's writing just leaves me cold. The dialogue and the characters never pop for me, and MacDonald's not an interesting enough artist to make me stay.
Runaways #32: The first issue of a new storyarc, after the kids' attempt to be conventional superheroes fell apart from their mentor being an awful creep. So they're just trying to figure out what to do next. Rainbow Rowell does have much happen in this issue, but she kind of summarizes where the characters are at the moment, and I like the combo of Natacha Bustos and Dee Cunniffe on art. If only the book would come out more than once every other month.
Sea of Sorrows #1, 2: What is with all the first and second issues only? Horror story about a bunch of disreputable folks trying to get a bunch of gold out of a German submarine on the bottom of the ocean. Except some of them are carrying their own demons, and there's a siren lurking that's starting to get hungry. Alex Cormack's art on the undersea parts is nicely dark and terrifying, but I don't know if I care about Rich Douek's story enough.
High Point - I really like issue 7, where the Demon Star Algol tells how she was able to kill the First Light when it was running around wiping out worlds. I mean, you kill a star by building a giant sword made of metal for a star's core and stab it with it, creating a black hole? That's pretty fucking metal. I liked Mok's designs and artwork for all the characters, how each group of stars had their own motif. And I like how Tsuei writes Sera as not always able to set aside her emotional impulses, like wanting to go help her family.
Low Point - Given how slim the pickings are these days, I wouldn't mind this book still being around so I had something good to read every month. And maybe I'm still not clear on how the Dracos managed to mess with the Royal Stars power so much, if the Royals are such hot shit.
One more day of looking at the different series to go, but not until Monday. Basically a bunch of mini-series. Some good, some disappointing, some still too early to tell.
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