2021 Comics in Review - Part 1

Hey, it's the comicsblogowhatchamfloogle's only review of last year's books that gets strung out over an entire week! Well, I guess Mike Sterling's look back at people's predictions for last year go a lot longer than a week, but whatever. Am I being thorough, or just lazy? Let's go with the former. Anyway, I've been doing this in the same format since 2008, so you know how it works. Look back at each title over the first four parts, then do the thing where I rank the books and creative teams against each other in a cruel struggle for my approval.

Batgirls #1: Spinning out of events in a bunch of Batman comics I didn't read, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, and artist Jorge Corona set Oracle, Batgirl, and Spoiler up in a new headquarters/hideout, in a new neighborhood, where they will undoubtedly encounter new problems and hopefully at least one friendly person.

Batman Urban Legends #1: I bought this whole thing entirely for an admittedly sort-of amusing story by Marguerite Bennett and Sweeney Boo about Batgirl and Spoiler hanging out in Wayne Manor watching movies, and then getting sent out on an investigation. It was alright, but not worth the cost of the whole comic. Yeah, I make bad decisions, this is not news.

Black Cat #2-10: Jed MacKay's second go-round writing Felicia Hardy included a trio of King in Black tie-ins, a one-off story that was originally going to be an Annual, the conclusion of everything Felicia had been stealing for the Black Fox, and then a whole thing about Felicia gathering some of the people who now have Infinity Stones in them for a mysterious purpose. C.F. Villa drew five of the issue, Mike Dowling drew the Gilded City arc, and Nina Vakueva drew the issue with the "Queen Cat".

High Point: My favorite single issue was probably #4, even if Felicia's mostly in it at a distance while Lily Hollister tries to track her down. It's an enjoyable little thing about someone trying to be a better version of themselves, and Vakueva's art has a roughness to it that fits Lily's current situation. Other than that, MacKay having Felicia and Odessa hook up at the end of The Gilded City and then actually touching on it again later, rather than just letting it drop, and Felicia and her guys stealing the Spider-Mobile to use in a heist.

Also, Felicia hating Eddie Brock and symbiotes. One more reason to love her.

Low Point: I didn't love Dowling's art on The Gilded City. It was more realistic than Villa or Vakueva's, but that made it come off as flat and kind of lifeless. It didn't really reflect any sort of terror that I think was supposed to be there when the Black Fox trades Manhattan to the Gilded Saint.

Black Cat Annual 2021: Set after The Gilded City, when Felicia decides to get out of NYC for a time, and gets roped into helping South Korea's super-team deal with a mind-controlled member of their squad. There's a bit at the end that leads into Felicia's whole thing hunting down the Infinity Stone people, but it's not relevant to this particular story. Which is an enjoyable little romp that introduces some new characters that Joey Vazquez (I'm assuming, he drew this comic) gives some nifty designs, that I wouldn't mind seeing again at some point.

Black Jack Demon #1-3: A story about a boy in the Old West, trying to hunt down and kill a demon that emerged from the family mine, killed his father, and wore his face. Things don't go smoothly, but as of the the third issue, Silas appears to have succeeded. I'm sure nothing can go wrong for him now!

High Point: Writer/artist Nick Hermes uses a very Golden Age comics approach to his art. It's odd-looking compared to all the other comics I pick up, but the vivid, mostly single-tone colors and straightforward panel layouts works for the story. I think the second issue was my favorite, where we see Silas trying to continue the hunt, but also struggling with all the problems that come with that. Like money, and having no one to watch his back. But Hermes makes sure to add some nice moments, to give Silas something to want to survive for.

Low Point: I don't really understand who the guys in the ship that attacked Silas and the demon near the end of issue 3 were. Whether they were pirates of a sort, or some kind of harbor patrol. I'm also not sure why the demon needed to die in the manner it did, but I'm assuming that's going to be explained at some point, since Silas seems determined to go home and dig up the demon's treasure.

Black Knight #1-5: Si Spurrier introduced a new set-up for Dane Whitman in a King in Black tie-in, and this mini-series runs with it, while also giving him a daughter/partner to work with. It also established a version or origin for Camelot that plays into it's fairy tale perfection as being a deliberate thing, if that interests you. Also, Elsa Bloodstone is there, but she seems kind of annoyed about it.

High Point: I like the design for Dane's armor when he starts really tapping into his uglier emotions and using them to power himself up. Ummmmmmm, yeah, I got nothing else. Maybe someone can do something with the "shared burden" idea.

Low Point: I'm never really fond of writers doing the thing where all the other heroes hate or barely tolerate the main character, when it doesn't jibe with anything we've seen before. But that's where Spurrier goes here, that the Avengers only call Dane when they want him to use the Ebony Blade's power to obliterate something (when Thor and Captain Marvel are right there), and otherwise they would rather not see him ever. You can do it, I guess, it just feels like erasing a lot of past evidence to the contrary.

Count Draco Knuckleduster: It's part of the same story as Phantom Starkiller, which seems to be a sort of dark magic Star Wars. You got the energy swords and the evil empires, dark masters, the title character, who accepted subservience in exchange for a longer life and ends up in a life-sustaining suit. Instead of characters surviving beyond death by living in the Force, they get brought back as living corpses. I'm not sure where the whole thing is going, but it's sort of interesting.

Darkhawk: Heart of the Hawk: Three different stories by three different creative teams. Danny Fingeroth and Mike Manley's story is set during their original Darkhawk run. Dan Abnett and Andrea DiVito's is from Chris Powell's time as a fugitive in space. Kyle Higgins and Juanan Ramirez set theirs at the end of the universe, to set up their mini-series taht came out later in the year starring a new Darkhawk.

Deadbox #1, 2: What I think Mark Russell and Ben Tiesma mean as some sort of commentary on American society, or maybe just small-town American society, aided by a weird movie machine that lets people rent flicks nobody's ever heard of. But it's just tired and stale. There's nothing here I haven't either seen somewhere else (and done better), or don't already know. It's not funny, it's not insightful, it's just there. Sadly not the last time Russell's going to let me down this week.

Deadpool #10: The last issue of Kelly Thompson's Deadpool book, and it's a King in Black tie-in where the cast spends the entire issue trying to kill one of the symbiote dragons. They've got Elsa Bloodstone in the cast and they can't do any better than that? Anyway, all the more interesting subplots Thompson was writing about Deadpool as King of Monster Island are left unresolved and as far as I know, nobody's picked them up or done anything with that idea since.