2023 Comics in Review - Part 4

As with 2022, 8 artists drew 110 pages this year, although no one broke the 154 page mark. Alex Lins (the closest thing to a high point that Hellcat mini-series had) and Alessandro Cappuccio at 110 pages each (though Cappuccio would be higher if I'd found Moon Knight #25), and Paolo Villanelli (Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest) at 111 pages. Federico Sabbatini drew 120 pages on Moon Knight, and then the other 4 artists are within 6 pages of each other. Henry Ponciano (Fallen) at 134, and Chris Burnham (Unstoppable Doom Patrol) at 135. Nahuel SB (Grit n Gears) had 139 pages, which left him one shy of the leader for 2023, Iban Coello, with 140 pages on Fantastic Four.

Sgt. Rock vs. the Army of the Dead #5, 6: The wrap-up to the Bruce Cmpbell/Eduardo Risso mini-series sees Easy Company storm the targeted bunker, only to find an amped-up on steroids Undead Hitler! But that's no match for Rock's willingness to call in another bombing strike on his and Adolf's position. For some reason, in these issues Campbell gives Rock internal narration boxes, which he didn't do for the first 4 issues. No idea why he made that change.

Space Outlaws #1, 2: Written and drawn by Marco Fontanili, this is about a parasitic alien that escapes a Martian prison and flees to Earth (still in the Wild West), only to have what is essentially a Terminator sent after it. A book that's definitely more style than substance, but very stylish.

Sudden Death #1: Like Deadfellows, a first issue that hasn't, to date, received any follow-up. This one's about a man who's very nervous and unsure of himself, until he somehow comes back from the dead, completely uninjured, several hours after being hit by a car and becomes a celebrity. Of course there's a catch, though nobody knows it yet.

Tiger Division #3-5: While the title would suggest the mini-series is about the South Korean super-team, it's really just about Taegukgi, who is the flying brick on the team, and apparently spent a portion of his youth being a thief and running gambling rackets before getting superpowers and turning his life around.

High Point: I don't know, Dr. Doom showed up, pulled the rug out from under Taegukgi's childhood friend turned crime boss tycoon. That was an OK guest appearance.

Low Point: I covered it (repeatedly) while reviewing the issues, but I would have liked to learn more about the other characters, not just Taegukgi, but they're barely even in the book. Might as well be cardboard cutouts in the background.

Total Party Killer #1: I just reviewed this last week, but a young adventurer joins a party and finds it's not everything she hoped for, between the violence and general lack of compassion or camaraderie. But then there's a big twist on the last two pages that didn't do much for me.

Uncanny Spider-Man #1-5: Si Spurrier dresses Nightcrawler up as Spider-Man and has him avoid dealing with bigger problems to catch purse snatchers and flirt incorrigibly. That can't last, and it doesn't. Lee Garbett drew issues 1, 2, 4 and most of 5, Javier Pina drew issue 3, and Simone Buonfantino drew the remainder of issue 5.

High Point: Swashbuckling, wisecrack-attempting, charming Nightcrawler is my preferred version of the fuzzy elf, so that part was A-OK with me. I would have liked watching him contend with more Spider-Man enemies. Fight the Scorpion! Fight Hydro-Man! The various baggage - the magic sword, the little Bamf ghost - were not things I was terribly interested in, but Spurrier incorporated them without making a mess.

The retcon to Kurt's birth is something I'm indifferent to, so long as they aren't trying to pretend Mystique's not been a shit parent (also a shit person) her entire life.

Low Point: Spurrier's version of Silver Sable seemed too unprofessional. Vulture working for ORCHIS out of some (subliminally) stoked resentment over the mutants' immortality wasn't a bad idea, but the techno-organic virus is a bit out of his wheelhouse. Bring back one of the Symthes or something. Garbett's art was rougher, leaning heavier on thicker black lines, the further along the series got.

Unstoppable Doom Patrol #1-7: Spinning out of Lazarus Planet (which I didn't read), and briefly interrupted by that weird summer event about everyone falling asleep, this was the Doom Patrol as classic X-Men concept of finding people with strange or dangerous powers and giving them a safe place to live, while also training them to protect themselves and maybe others. Chris Burnham drew all of it except issue 4, which was drawn by David LaFuente.

High Point: The annoying corporate techbro in issue 5, who thinks he's going to "disrupt" Caulder's method of superpowers via catastrophe into something more marketable. And of course, he's not fazed by a complete failure, but he's got plenty of government funding, even without results.

Burnham's designs for the new characters were distinctive, even if most of them didn't really get enough time to distinguish themselves as characters. LaFuente's more exaggerated, cartoon-like art fit the tone of issue 4, the psychiatric evaluations were we see the character's perceptions of themselves, very well.

Culver not doing the tired bit of having Caulder be so bitter about being usurped that he undermines the team.

Low Point: Having Peacemaker (somehow placed in charge of hunting down the Doom Patrol) with his own, off-brand, Sentinels for the Doom Patrol to fight was maybe winking a little too hard at the X-Men comp. But no, the low point is the reveal at the end of issue 7, where we see that the team may, in future adventures, have to contend with the Batwoman Who Laughs. Ugh, the whole concept needs to be chucked in the deepest, hottest burning trashhole there is.

Werewolf by Night #1: A one-off about an unexpected team-up between Elsa Bloodstone and Jack Russell, each on separate trails to a crazed sorcerer trying to bring an otherworldly horror to Earth. Fran Galan keeps everything except Elsa in black-and-white until after the fighting's done, marking her as out-of-place in the conflict. Which is kind of an odd approach for a woman from a line of monster-hunters, but Derek Landy writes Elsa as more of a thrill-seeker than a hardened, caustic fighter, so it fits.

West Moon Chronicle #2, 3: This feels like the start of what is meant to be a bigger story, seeing as Maddy needs to get back to that other world and rescue her child, and that doesn't happen. The best they can manage is keeping the fox spirit from stealing the dragon's, life force, I think. Anyway, Joe Boccardo really draws the hell out of it. There's a great couple of pages about Maddy's entry to the other world, where her experiences are a border around a larger image of her bursting through the water to the other side.

West of Sundown #8-10: Turns out trusting businessmen working for a mysterious benefactor (who wants to experiment on people) is a bad idea. Who knew? Seeley and Campbell leave the door open for further stories down the line (possibly involving Dracula), but who knows if they'll ever exist.

High Point: The visions of what Griffin sees in issue 9 after Moreau "prepares" his mind for the new parts he's going to provide is nice. Jim Terry mostly doesn't get too weird, even when drawing someone with the head of a bear attached to their stomach, but it does make the time he cuts loose more effective.

The different ways in which they have Rosa use her abilities. For example, having her use her command of night creatures to make the different ones that comprise Anne's body separate. It's gruesome, but points for creativity.

Low Point: After establishing that Rosa's working with these businessmen because they'll bring in scum Dooley won't object to her feeding from, that issue is never really resolved. I mean, the businessmen are dead, and so presumably is their promised railroad and all the scofflaws that would follow.

Also, I was never clear on why Dooley and the others needed to drink peyote and go wandering through the desert just to find Moreau's train. Seemed really inefficient.

Wild Cosmos #1: Another first issue from Scout Comics, about a captain of a crew of salvagers who agrees to rescue someone from a planet in exchange for his last surviving crew member. Again, no further issues have arrived, but this felt so thinly plotted and paced and visually uninteresting I wouldn't buy the next issue anyway.