2021 Comics in Review - Part 4

David Hahn ended up as the artist who drew the most pages I read this year, at 163 between Midnight Western Theatre and Impossible Jones. There were five other artists who broke the 110-page mark: Damian Connelly (147 pages), Alessandro Cappuccio (130), C.F. Villa (130), Andres Genolet (128) and David Wachter (120).

Sweet Downfall #1: This was really a teaser of sorts for a larger graphic novel Stefano Cardoselli was releasing a few months later. I hadn't exactly loved Live Die Reload, but I didn't have a hell of a lot else coming out in January, so a bit of a story about a crash test dummy-turned-hitman sounded worth a look. I might try to track down the full thing one of these days.

Sympathy for No Devils #4, 5: The last two issues of Brandon Thomas and Lee Ferguson's story about a murder mystery in a world where there's only one human left (for reasons I'm unclear on). That mystery was honestly more interesting than the murder of a very large being that was actually being investigated.

Tales from the Dead Astronaut #1, 2: Well, I just reviewed an issue of this last week, you know what it's about. Three stories, seemingly unrelated, told by the floating skeleton of a dead astronaut. Except perhaps not so dead by the end of issue 2. Currently only one of Jonathan Thompson's three stories really interests me; two out of four if we count the astronaut himself, and I go back and forth on Jorge Luis Gabotto's art, though I prefer it when it doesn't seem like he's using watercolors. The last issue is supposed to be out next week, and I'm still dithering about whether to get it or not.

The Thing #1, 2: Walter Mosley and Tom Reilly (with Jordie Bellaire on colors) with a story about Ben Grimm having a bad day that is rapidly turning into some weird love story/cosmic struggle about the nature of people. Or something. I'm mostly guessing on that "cosmic struggle part". Mosley writes a decent enough Thing, and other than some trouble with drawing Ben's face from a three-quarters angle, Reilly's doing a really good job.

The Union #2-5: What was originally supposed to be an Empyre tie-in quickly became a King in Black tie-in, but Paul Grist doesn't waste much more time on that than he can avoid. It's more about an old super-villain trying to steal an item of immense power, only to find himself outmaneuvered by a modern-day, dipshit tech bro villain, I mean billionaire. While the heroes are largely too disorganized to even make a minor attempt at stopping him.

High Point: I like the designs for the new characters, especially the villains. Lady Shimmering Lights in particular was cool-looking. I would like to see them again, even as I know that has almost no chance of happening, unless they die in they get used as cannon fodder in the next Captain Britain book. Most of the team having no particular interest in following Union Jack was sort of amusing.

Low Point: Given the general ineptitude and disharmony of the heroes, this feels like a book that needed Grist drawing it himself. Having Andrea DiVito's more standard superheroic art style didn't really fit with how largely irrelevant the heroes are. The team seems to disband again as soon as the threat is over, and that's tossed in almost as an afterthought in one panel. That feels like something that would happen in Jack Staff.

Way of X #1-3: My one real foray into the whole Krakoa quagmire, Nightcrawler's attempts to codify some sort of mutant belief system. Not a religion, though, because that's the sort of stupid thing humans do, and mutants are obviously much smarter than humans. *wanking motion* But hell, Si Spurrier actually used Stacy X, and did so in a way that didn't irritate me. Bob Quinn got to draw Magneto and Fabian Cortez barfing! Maybe that was the high point of all the comics I read this year.

White Lily #1-5: A story about Lilya and Katya, two women who were part of one of the Soviet's first women combat pilot squadrons. There's a lot of struggling with people doubting their skills, the harsh realities of actual combat. Katya's in love with Lilya, but Lilya falls for a guy. The story doesn't end happily, but that's no surprise given the body count on the Eastern Front. Lovalle Davis drew the first two issues, but after his sudden passing, Jake Bilbao drew the remaining issues.

High Point: It took me a while to get used to it, but I kind of like how the page is turned on its side during the dogfighting sequences. It gives the artists a wider (if shorter top-to-bottom) space to use, and Bilbao and Davis both take advantage of that an inset panels to simultaneously show us the wider scope of the battle, and what's happening in the cockpits as things progress. I like that Katya's shown to be an excellent pilot in her own right, not diminished because she's not as abrasive or reckless as Lilya.

Low Point: Preston Poulter could have spread this out over an additional sixth issue easily. The last two issues had a lot of pages, and certain things felt very rushed. Maybe that was intentional; that Katya was never going to last long once Lilya was gone, but it still didn't leave enough time for things to have a proper emotional impact.

You Promised Me Darkness #1-5: One group of people with powers granted by Halley's Comet try to stop another group led by a guy called the Anti-Everything from destroying the world through the power of fire and Gangam Style. We probably deserve to be wiped out for that song.

High Point: Connelly's good at creating the feeling both that this event is something a lot of people have been preparing for or working towards for a long time, but also that it's just one weird thing in a long line of them. Some of these characters, like Sage, have been around a while and lived lives full of weird stuff.

Low Point: The art, in black-and-white, but at times just black, makes it very difficult to distinguish characters or tell what the hell is going on. That's really the biggest problem I have. The story is interesting enough in theory, but trying to actually follow it is a chore. Also, Sage's tendency to wander off-topic during internal monologues and randomly shout "Yikes!" during said internal monologues was really annoying.

Yuki vs Panda #1-3: I was excited at the prospect of a young girl unwittingly setting off a blood feud between her and a panda, then having to survive it when the bill came due. Unfortunately, three issues in there had been no actual feuding. Instead we were getting teen romance hijinks and the panda failing to hold down a job at a hot dog cart. Sometimes I want worldbuilding. Sometimes I want violence. From this, I wanted the latter, and I wasn't getting it.