Only five artists made it to 110 pages this year. There were a few others with a shot - one more issue of Babs and Jacen Burrows was in - but close doesn't cut the mustard here! Niccola Izzo (Blow Away) and Marco Finnegan (Morning Star, Calavera P.I.) each reached 110 pages. Roge Antonio was somewhere between 110 and 130, because I don't know how to divide up issue 4 of Deadpool between he and Eric Gapstur.
In the end, it came down to either Carlos Gomez (Fantastic Four) or Alessandro Cappuccio (assorted Moon Knight stuff.) Gomez had 150 pages, but thanks to the first issue of Fist of Khonshu being 25 pages, Cappuccio just edged past him with 155 pages, making this two of the last three years Cappuccio's been the most prolific artist in pagecount.
Night Thrasher #1-4: Dwayne Taylor's back from the dead (courtesy Secret Wars), but has decided the best thing to do is close the Taylor Foundation's doors and start fresh somewhere new. Unfortunately, there's a lot of stuff going on in the old neighborhood he might have to address first. J. Holtham writes, Nelson Daniel draws, Matt Milla's the color artist.
High Point: I think Holtham's sets up a nice internal conflict for Dwayne. He thinks he's better off going some place without the baggage, that he can still help people, but without feeling dirty for using a Foundation that started from something ugly. But the "baggage" includes people who relied on him, or looked up to him, like Elvin (aka, Rage.) Dwayne ultimately can't walk away from them, so he can't walk away from the neighborhood.
Low Point: The end, where Dwayne is able to convince the local councilman (concerned with preserving the neighborhood, including the locals and their lives) and the heavy-handed cop (concerned with protecting the gentrifying upscale businesses) that, really, they want the same thing and should work together. That was the least believable part of the mini-series, and possibly the least believable thing I read in a comic the entire year.
High Point: I like that they introduced a handful of regular folks, each of whom are in some sort of frustration with their life, and then have them react in different ways. The scene in issue 3 where the "Don't Walk" sign is flashing and each time it flashes, another of the creepy guys appears around. That was some effectively ominous build-up.
Low Point: I still don't really get what's going on with the dimension with the enormous stoplight, other than it seems to possess someone to get them to act as its avatar. The whys and wherefores have not been explained so far.
Power Pack - Into the Storm #1-3: Louise Simonson and June Brigman with a story of the Power kids and Franklin Richards getting caught up in a struggle with a Snark princess out to reclaim her ship, and a Brood Queen out for revenge. The theme of all the kids, regardless of species, struggling to meet their parents' expectations while still being themselves had some legs, but there was too much other stuff in the mix.
High Point: The odd jungle Val descends into when she gets too stressed/has a PTSD episode is well-rendered by Goran Sudzuka (artist) and Ive Scorcina (color artist). And the notion Leo can see it for some reason could be interesting. I'm also curious if Phillips has the two main characters become friends, or remain unwilling allies against all the people breathing down their necks.
Low Point: There hasn't really been anything too bad yet. Um, I wish Leo was listening to a different book on tape in issue 3?
Rogues #1, 2: I think this was El Torres bringing back some characters he'd published at a different company previously. Bram and Weasel do different stuff for money, and it usually doesn't work out too well for them from what I can tell. And speaking of things not going well, Scout solicited 6 issues of the book, but only managed to ship 2!
High Point: I was pretty pleased with myself for guessing the Shroud was the phony Moon Knight after issue 2. Look, I don't get many predictions right, let me have this one. I mentioned Rosenberg's color work yesterday. I like the version of his costume Pramanik uses, where most of the bodysuit is black once you get past the chest and the guards on the shins and forearms. I think it looks a little cooler than the all-white costume.
Low Point: That said, I didn't love the Shroud getting used as the unhinged, second-rate antagonist good guy here any more than I did when Mark Waid and Chris Samnee did it in Daredevil. Poor dude's a punching bag every time he pops up for the last decade. Also, I refused to buy the Blood Hunt tie-ins, so they go here by default.
Werewolf by Night #1: Jason Loo and Sergio Davila with what seemed like a Werewolf by Night/Elsa Bloodstone team-up book, where Jack thinks he's lost control of his wolf side, but there's probably more to the story. But Loo brought the Hood into the mix, and Davila makes Jack's werewolf form look more like a were-gorilla and I just wasn't having it.
Alright, tomorrow, the ranking of things against other, arbitrarily similar things!
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