Looking to 2023 with excitement and expectation!
It's the end of the year, and we're looking back on the best of the best in comics, graphic novels, movies, TV shows, video games, board games, and episodes. Let's get down and dirty on our top picks from 2022!
0 Comments
And YOU get a speculation, and YOU get a speculation!
Boy howdy, there's been a LOT of speculation around the future of the DCU! Rumors about who's in, who's out, who hates who, and what random characters may get introduced have been whirling wildly all over the internet, with only limited confirmations or denials coming from the Gunn-man himself. We're here to help clear up what's true, false, and undecided, along with our theories about what's next for the DC Cinematic Universe.
In a different universe, this movie came out 2 months earlier, and did GREAT in the box office...
So, this movie came out almost 3 years ago at this point, but because of the dreaded panini, it really fell under the radar for most folks (it literally released in mid-March 2020). We recently had a chance to check it out, and decided to share our thoughts on this pretty decent Vin Diesel flick that should have gotten way more love than it did. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong company, wrong circumstances.
When it's King, you know it's going to be just the tip of the iceberg...Art Brut #1 (w: W. Maxwell Prince, a: Martin Morazzo) Publisher: Image Comics If those creator names sound familiar, it's because they're the minds behind the critically acclaimed and absolute Cover B Certified Fresh series "Ice Cream Man." Art Brut is actually a remaster of sorts of this teams first collaboration, which was originally named The Electric Sublime and published through IDW. What we're getting now is a book with new covers, new lettering, new design and delightful Silver-Age styled backup stories. Much like Ice Cream Man, Art Brut is wildly inventive and astoundingly fun. The story focuses around a man name Arthur Brut, who is referred to as "the Dream Painter." He is contacted by the Bureau of Artistic Integrity after a spate of tragic murders/suicides/terrorist attacks all surface surrounding a similar image and culminates in the Mona Lisa suddenly winking. As things come to a dramatic head in the investigation, we finally see exactly what makes Arthur so special in the world of art. At the center lies mysterious artistic powers, the nature of art and mental health, and a creative look into the history of some of the greatest works of arm mankind has ever produced. While tonally very different from Prince's other works like Ice Cream Man and Haha, which both take a very bleak perspective on their various messages, Art Brut still drips of the magic and whimsy that is common among Prince and Morazzo's work. It's an adventure on par with some of the most popular stories out there, be it Sandman or Umbrella Academy or whatever else might tickle your fancy. Morazzo's blending of various art styles not only gives credit to their skill as an artist, but also gives the story such incredible depth and beauty. It's a wonderful book and absolutely deserving of a revival. A Vicious Circle #1 (w: Mattson Tomlin, a: Lee Bermejo) Publisher: BOOM! Studios Let me just start by saying that if you've never read a book with art by Lee Bermejo, then you are in a for a treat. Bermejo's art is so incredibly visceral at the best of times, and this book is a prime example. Bermejo takes some risks here, splashing in a bunch of different uses of color and bouncing his style around, borrowing from various different styles to absolutely magical results. It's a wonder to behold page after page. This isn't to say Tomlin's story isn't holding its own. A dark, neo-noir tale about a pair of time travelers locked in an endless struggle. It's fatalist, it's existential and it's captivating. I can't think of the last time Boom! did a magazine sized issue, if ever, but this is an absolute homerun. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up before it becomes impossible to come by. Danger Street #1 (w: Tom King, a: Jorge Fornés)
Publisher: DC Comics Look, when you pick up a DC book from Tom King, you know there's going to be a LOT more coming from underneath the surface. This interesting little title definitely has that, but also has some very classic charm we haven't necessarily gotten from his other titles in the same vein. The internal pages are printed matte, like an old school newspaper run. The story has a narrator (Dr. Fate's half-helmet, to be exact) who tells of intertwining tales of princesses and ogres and knights... ... when in fact, we're watching a man try to break back into the news industry after clearly becoming a pundit, a bunch of kids stuff up traffic with a 15mph forerunner, and a group of heroes who want so badly to be a part of the League of Superheroes they can't see their bad decision making as it happens. When I say it's a lot, I mean it. But I'm also very, very excited to see what sort of uncomfortable, timely commentary King is bringing to us this time. The future's so dark, I need to wear a headlamp...Hexware #1 (w: Tim Seeley, a: Zulema Scotto Lavina) Publisher: Image Comics Tim Seeley does it again. He once again produces a comic that I fall in love with at the jump. Damn you, Seeley, you beautiful, beautiful mind. Hexware is a Constantine story by way of Detroit: Become Human. We enter into a world in extreme class divide, with the rich and privileged, the aptly nicknamed "uppies," living in high rises above the city streets, and the less fortunate forced to endure a dank, dark world at street level. In the wake of a terrorist attack at a mall, a family suffers the loss of their teenage daughter Jesi. The family's android, who acts mainly as a maid and quality-of-life assistant, is forced to sit and watch as the family falls into their grief. Her programming compels her to constantly ask what she can do to help, eventually drawing the ire of the broken and mournful family. As a simple support unit, she is helpless. Until she suddenly springs into action and reads through the extensive collection of books the family has regarding paganism, mysticism and witchcraft. And here we find ourselves at the tagline for the book: "Why sell your soul when you can buy one...?" Hexware is a beautiful mash-up of science and the supernatural. So often we see these two things crammed together in a way that results in one of them being more of a theme or set-piece than an actual setting. Whenever they are successfully blended, they result is some of the most unique examples of modern storytelling, and this book is definitely just that. Seeley quickly shows that he aims to truly examine how demons, souls, witchcraft, and other supernatural tidbits would interact in a world full of androids and advanced technologies. Moreover, it's that world itself that lends an exceptional quality to the story in that it's a world more advanced than that of the reader but not so advanced as to feel unreachable. Sure, we don't have in home androids, but we have AI slowly becoming more accessible, various companies working to bring robots to the masses, and entire generations brought up not knowing what it was like to not have interconnected supercomputers attached to our hips. This is a distant world, but it's not SO distant that it becomes hard to relate to, making the characters feel that much more real. This book is a delight. I love it so very much. All Against All #1 (w/a: Alex Paknadel & Caspar Wijngaard) Publisher: Image Comics All Against All is a fascinating story made even better by fascinating art. This book has a lot to offer and a lot to think on, from it's incredibly bleak outlook of the Earth's future to the existential nature of a race of aliens who inhabit the bodies of other creatures. The most interesting thing to me from the jump is that this is an alien invasion story told from the perspective of the invaders. Man-kind's position in the narrative seems to be that of an antagonist or even a monster. It's like someone threw an Uno-reverse card at a xenomorph. We follow director B'tay, a highly decorated researcher for a race known as "the operators," as he examines the biomes of Earth, wherein his race is cultivating lifeforms that they apparently found in the Svalbard seed vault. The goal seems to be utilizing the animals of earth to build better bodies for their soldiers in order to end a war that we never see. However, B'tay has reservations for this goal and has restricted access to live specimens, making the station he operates one of pure observation. This lack of productivity has caught the eye of the military who have decided to step in and move things along. All of the above takes place years after the book's opening scene, wherein Director B'tay comes face to face with a hostile human boy. By the end of the book, the boy has grown and is not too happy to see a new group of Operator scouts investigating his home. As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot happening in this book. There's nepotism, a commentary on the military viewing people as tools, thoughts on conservation, reflections on loss, examples of panic attacks and anxiety disorders... It's a hefty think-piece wrapped in a beautiful, technicolor coat. It's absolutely stunning and a must read for sci-fi fans. It's Only Teenage Wasteland #1 (w: Curt Pires, a: Jacoby Salcedo) Publisher: Dark Horse Comics I feel like a lot of comics nowadays are focusing on what it was like to be a teenager before - with lots of stories set in the '90s and early '00s, giving authors the opportunity to show what their world was like when they were teens, and pull on their own experiences. What was nice about this book is that it's from the perspective of teens right now, but it actually feels realistic. The things they say, the things they do, the behaviors they express, all feel true to teens today (from my limited experience with current teens & the relationships I see in others, anyway). For the bulk majority of this book, those behaviors and actions are what matter. We follow Javi, a sort-of-in-the-closet-but-not-really teen boy, as he hangs out with friends and narrates his planning and throwing of a party while his parents are out of town. When the party gets crashed by the racist, sexist, homophobic d-bags no one invited, a fight breaks out and ends with... a massive twist out of left field that is not even a little bit hinted to or explained in the first book. Trust me, you won't guess it. Don't even try. If you've ever seen the movie +1, it feels kind of like that. You're drawn in through a traditional teen-based story of relationships and clique-drama, only to be whisked away into some weird, (potentially?) sci-fi vibes that you can't reconcile and aren't entirely sure how it happened. I really like the characters they've established, and I'm interested to see where the heck this is going. Talk about a cliffhanger. Know Your Station #1 (w: Sarah Gailey, a/ca: Liana Kangas)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios The first few pages of this book made my skin crawl - in a good way. From the beginning, we're introduced to "The First Resort - A Hub for the Future," and all the many drafts of marketing gobble-di-gook they worked through to get to that tagline. Then we meet, one-by-one, the C-Suite, all of which have nefarious, pro-capitalistic, marginally offensive backstories that generally make you feel really icky. Oh, and all the jobs on this station pretty well suck, too. The future is bleak for the not-1%, my friends. The real story focuses on Elise, a Security Liason for the station, and an investigation into a brutal murder that just took place. Clearly, nothing like this has ever happened before, so they call in reinforcements from ground-level to help break the case. Before she knows it, Elise is wrapped up in something much darker than she knows how to deal with, and may be more involved than she even knows. What I like about this book is that they subtly-not-so-subtly double down on horrible things being absolutely normal. For instance, Elise wakes up with an awful hangover, proclaiming she's quitting her job, only to receive some sort of medication provided by the ship's all-knowing AI that serves as the strongest upper I've ever seen - completely reversing her instinct to leave and pepping her step for the day ahead. It feels futuristic and surreal, but also, not. So much of our current news cycle is getting weirder and weirder, more and more dystopian, that this almost feels... about right? Like, if the world's richest men did have a pow-wow and decided to build a space station that accommodates their needs, this is exactly what it would be like. And honestly, I can't tell if I really like that sort of truth-telling, or kind of hate it. Either way, it makes for a compelling read. A little alien magic for your holiday season!
We're not saying this short flick is going to replace your yearly rewatch of A Christmas Story, but it is a holly jolly joyful little romp to brighten your season. With the focus on Mantis, we get a delighfully goofy and heartwarming tale about saving Christmas for Starlord. Oh, and Kevin Bacon is awesome, even if he IS just a stupid actor.
How they gonna do that to Mr. Freeze, huh?
Gotham's missing a Batman in the new DC video game, but that's not the only thing this game is lacking. A very mid- experience; it has some high points in interesting crafting & crime-stopping, but some really low points in villain development and boss fights. Should you spend a lot on it? Probably not. But it might be worth a pick up on a steep Black Friday sale.
A tasteful memorial and a path to move forward.
There was a lot of speculation around how they would incorporate the loss of Chadwick Boseman and his rendition of T'Challa into the MCU, but it was done gracefully and with a lot of empathy. Beyond that, the movie itself is well done - great acting, beautiful visuals, and a solid story - even though there were some small but pronounced holes that could have made the film better with a little more fleshing out. More than anything, we're just proud the MCU has started to really figure out how to mix up the tone of their movies; we've come a long way from the Tony-Stark-ization of every character, and that's something to be celebrated, for sure.
Glasses that offer more than X-Ray vision...Two Graves #1 (w: Genevieve Valentine, a: Ming Doyle, Annie Wu) Publisher: Image Comics I can't guarantee that I totally understand exactly what is happening in this book, but I find myself completely drawn into it. It's enigmatic in the ways that comic classics like Sandman are: cool and mysterious with emotions lingering just on the edge of the narrative, out of reach and building a strange tension. It's a dark book that ruminates on death at every corner, and in both tone and art style, it drips late '90s/ early '00s indie works. A man with a smoky face and a young woman with a nihilistic streak are journeying to the east coast so she can lay her mother to rest. In the middle, we see them enacting vengeance for the dead, visiting people at the end of their life, and floating on a cliffside. We are unsure of the relationship of the two, and it seems they themselves don't truly know the nature of it. There are allusions to Greek myths, discussions of the nature of death and a general bleak romanticism permeated through the pages. The alternating art provides a unique flip-flopping of perspective throughout, giving the world each character exists in its own specific vibe. From the title, I went in expecting another vengeance story in the style of a Brubaker title or a modern western like Undone by Blood. I suppose there is still room for this kind of story to develop, but the supernatural elements and ties to myth were a very nice surprise. Specs #1 (w: David M. Booher, a: Chris Shehan) Publisher: BOOM! Studios On the surface, Specs is a pretty straightforward "Kids on Bikes" story that flips the formula a bit by making the focus on things the kids themselves do instead of things happening in the world around them. In the '80s, two high school best friends are living their lives as outcasts. Our main character, Kenny, is struggling with his sense of identity as he navigates high school as a young gay man, a fact he keeps hidden from everyone around him, including his best friend, Teddy, who he confesses to being in love with. Meanwhile, Teddy is the only black student at his school, and his family appears to be one of the few, if not the only, black families in the town. The two deal with the expected amount of high school bullying that is common in these stories, but they stick together and do their best to defend each other. One day, Kenny receives a pair of wish-granting specs from one of those novelty ads found in an old comic book that belonged to his brother (who it seems has been kicked out of their home). They dive into the expected whacky antics of using the specs to get small amounts of cash, pass tests, win at video games, and many other silly 1980s shenanigans. They realize that the specs can't grant wishes too large, so things have to stay small. That is until the local bully, Skunk, comes at them with a knife and Teddy pushes a bit too hard. Beyond that, Specs is a story about being disenfranchised in small town America. It's a story about what its like to get wins in a world that tries as hard as it can to keep you from success. Any win, however small it may be, feels magical or miraculous. It's a story about living under the weight of having to hide who you are, or the pain of not being able to hide who you are in a world that looks down on you for it. The struggles Teddy and Kenny have to endure are incredibly relatable to a lot of people, making their journey with the magic specs a fantasy deep from the hearts of those same people. David M. Booher is producing some of the finest queer stories in comics these days, and this is certainly not one to miss. Knockturn County #1 (w: James E. Roche, a: Axur Eneas) Publisher: Scout Comics The first issue of Knockturn County consists of two stories under the premise of "Dr. Seuss but DARK." The first story plays out much as you'd expect: It's a story of drugs and murder and deceit all done in the cartoony art style and simplistic rhyme structure of a Dr. Seuss book. While it's fun, it's pretty generic as far as stories go. It's a noir tale about a cop falling for the girlfriend of a mob boss and ends about the way you'd expect. This story admittedly almost made me stop reading in that it was just too generic. We have seen so many "kids-focused IP but DARK" stories that rarely do more than just make the character do drugs and get naked. As such, I figured this book was going to just be another flash in the pan as many of its predecessors were. Then I got to story #2. The second story in this book is about abuse, plain and simple, and while it is simplistic by nature in its structure, there is so much being said subtly about the ramifications of abuse and the effects it has on a child's mind. It was horribly dark and not an uplifting story at all, but it was an amazing use of a very specific storytelling style to portray something powerfully. It was fascinating to experience and I hope the rest of the stories in this series tackle equally as important subjects. This is published under Scout's "Nonstop!" imprint, so the next we'll see of Knockturn County will be a full trade paperback, which I definitely plan to pick up. Just let people buy good books!Orc Island #1 (w: Joshua Dysart, a: Alberto Ponticelli) Publisher: Bad Idea As with all Bad Idea titles, I am gonna preface by saying DO NOT BUY THIS THIRD PARTY YOU ARE OVERPAYING AND FEEDING INTO A SYSTEM SPECIFCALLY MANIPULATED BY BAD IDEA'S GIMMICKY STYLE. Anyway, now that that's out of the way, this book was incredible. I am endlessly frustrated that some of the coolest, most unique stuff is coming out of a company whose sole focus seems to be making comics as predatory as possible for a laugh. Orc Island is a familiar fantasy story in a lot of ways. A young street rat Half-Elf lives in a world of extreme economic disparity. The poor get to live in lower, filthy places called "shit alley" while the "High Patriarchs" live on floating temples of elegance and debauchery. One day, our main character, Cerrin Son Sion, is given the opportunity to earn some money fighting for the entertainment of the Patriarchs. He does a stunning job, though is nearly executed for saying some offensive things in the court. Having lost any opportunity to fight again, he is approached by a woman with a dangerous proposition: they are adventuring to Orc Island to collect skulls. Again, a familiar fantasy premise of impoverished rascal is granted opportunity they never would have expected, but what sets Orc Island apart is two-fold. First, the bleakness of it. Cerrin is not a hopeful dreamer, he is a nihilist. His attitude and criminal actions are all in response to his no longer caring if he lives or dies. He isn't adventuring because he feels like he was made for more than what his life in poverty grants him, as many fantasy heroes do. He is adventuring because he feels he has nothing to lose. This unique and weirdly refreshing pessimism is then supported by Ponticelli's absolutely stunning art and character design. AT first glance, this feels like another "Fantasy but the Future" book in the vein of Shadowrun or the many books that take this approach. However, as you move through it, you see that while some modern or more futuristic styling exists, it all still remains archaic and magical. It's a very interesting style where everything feels so advanced and yet so medieval. The floating temples, for example, feel like many sci-fi vessels we've seen in the past, and yet they are effectively just slabs of marble levitating through the power of teams of sorcerers who are eventually driven mad from their service. Honestly, it feels very Warhammer 40K at times, just with less oil and cable. The characters are all brightly colored in various shades, and Matt Hollingsworth's colors make this elaborate magical world absolutely pop. I love the brightness as it works against the bleakness of the narrative. It's a dissonance that doesn't detract from the story but instead serves to enhance the mystique of the world we're experiencing. There is a backing story by Mike Carey (w) and Kano (a) that is about Noah's Ark and is absolutely hilarious. I would be remiss if I didn't mention it as well and give it a big ol' thumbs up. One day, if Bad Idea just stopped the gimmicks and printed comics, they would go down as one of the best publishers to exist in the industry ever. Unfortunately, we're already too into the gimmicks, so thus is life. If you're able to get your hands on Bad Idea books, I recommend. If you local doesn't carry them and/or hoards them until they're able to sell them online, pass and go find something else to read. Also, maybe report your shop to Bad Idea for giggles. Behold, Behemoth #1 (w: Tate Brombal, a: Nick Robles) Publisher: BOOM! Studios A social worker and a child at the brink of the apocalypse. After the death of his brother, Greyson finds himself plagued with visions. He's losing time and seeing horrible, dark things. He sees monsters and demons. He see himself fighting back, destroying his enemies. At the same time, a young girl he's responsible for checking on finds herself without a family. She finds herself caught in a web of violence and destruction. All the while, the world crumbles around them both. This book is wonderful, no other words to say. It's another book with a unique look on apocalypse storytelling, similar to Last House on the Lake, that focuses as much energy on the actual ending world as it does on the ended world. It's a deep, dark and painful read. I love it so much. The Ones (w: Brian Michael Bendis, a: Jacob Edgar) Publisher: Dark Horse Comics I'm gonna start by saying that I am not offended by the F-word. I use it plenty in my day to day, probably well more than I should. That said, someone needs to take that word away from BMB. I feel like every new indie title I read from Bendis is just panel after panel of F's. He is one of those writers that we've talked about in the past that likes to throw it into the middle of words and it just makes the whole bit of dialogue cringe and awkward. I challenge you, Bendis, to write ONE book with no F-Bombs. See what you can do, friend. All f***ing-griping aside, this book was pretty awe-f***ing-some. This book follows a man creating a team of heroes in order to stop a great evil from consuming the world. The catch is that all the heroes are "chosen ones," or people with some form of prophetic or fate-determined heroism. The group itself is comprised of a series of familiar pastiches, from Superman to Buffy to a man filling the trope of "chosen one baby" who never did anything beyond being a baby who was a chosen one. It's a fun cast of characters, and Edgar's design for them is rooted in our familiarity but with just enough uniqueness to feel fresh and fun. I personally think this is some of Bendis's better character writing I've seen. The characters seem very unique from one another and there isn't a ton of Bendis's own voice draped over them, which is a trend in his writing that I know divides some people. So, F-Bomb addiction aside, I think this is a slam dunk for BMB. The overall "mission" of the group is a bit bland and not anything we've not really seen before, but I'm hoping that the fun cast of characters working together and perhaps some creative writing choices keep everything feeling fresh. Nature's Labyrinth #1 (w: Zac Thompson, a: Bayleigh Underwood)
Publisher: Mad Cave Comics It's like Cube by way of Squid Games, and I mean that in the best way. Sure, there are some beats from both that crop up, but it's issue one and those things are somewhat necessary for establishing the stakes of a story like this. It's forgiveable. Nature's Labyrinth sees the winners of some kind of tournament from all over the world finding their way onto a cruise ship. They party and chat, drink and dance. Eventually, they are invited to dine with the captain, and then things take a sharp turn. When the drugs wear off, they find themselves on an island somewhere, split into small groups, and then the rules of the game are explained to them. Again, it's nothing revolutionary, but there are some mysteries afoot that I always find compelling whenever we get a story like this. I think Thompson and Underwood have done a good job making an interesting cast of characters, and our main protagonist is compelling in a stoic action hero kind of way. We learn a small tidbit about her later that makes things even more interesting. The highlight of the whole thing is Bayleigh Underwood, who is just an absolutely delightful artist. I first experienced their work in Marvel Action Thrillers, and I truly hope to see them more. The art in this book is loud and fast-paced, with moment of action sweeping smoothly from panel to panel. Underwood's drastic choices in the anatomy of characters builds such a bizarre and almost absurd world, and I am stoked to see them design even more deadly traps deep in the labyrinth. |
Cover B PodcastChris & Tee host this weekly comic-focused show, providing insight on new comics, entertainment news and more. Archives
July 2023
Categories
All
|